He’s got a short fuse.
A diminutive accountant is accused of becoming enraged at the sight of a Trump sign, ripping it down and shooting up the owner’s house in a caught-on-camera rampage.
Benjamin Michael Campbell, who is 5-foot-6, had to stand on his tippy toes to rip down the Trump 2024 banner before he fired multiple rounds from a handgun at the homeowner from the sun roof of his car, missing him by just feet, footage shows.
Campbell, a married Atlanta native, was speeding down a highway in Nantahala Gorge, North Carolina — about 75 miles west of Asheville — on Sept. 6 when he suddenly came to a grinding halt when he spotted the flag hanging in Mark Thomas’ front yard, Thomas said.
“He was driving along, saw the sign, slammed on his brakes, you know, had a political trigger moment, and he just had to tear the sign down,” Thomas, 62, told the Daily Mail.
“He started reaching up on his tippy toes, trying to get to the edge of the sign. I just thought to myself, this is not happening. I don’t believe this.
Thomas, an avowed “Trump supporter” who owns the Paddle Inn Rafting Company, said he grabbed his rifle to confront the stranger in his yard and walked out on his front porch where Campbell could “clearly” see him.
He fired two warning shots in the air to scare the trespasser, he said.
Campbell, who had ripped off the sign by this time, then threw it on the ground “like he was proud of what he just did” and got back in his Jeep, Thomas said.
But instead of heeding Thomas’ warning shots, the 38-year-old whipped his car back along the road and shot a handgun multiple times through the sun roof. Thomas estimated he popped off about six rounds.
“I found one bullet hole in my refrigerator, which is on my porch,” he said, noting the fridge was just yards away from him. Surveillance footage shows dirt flying in the air where other bullets struck his front yard.
Police responded to the scene, but by the time they arrived Campbell had drove off.
Days later, investigators became aware of a video of the confrontation that Thomas shared on YouTube, according to the Swain County Sheriff’s .
Cops arrested Campbell on Sept. 30, and they released a photograph of him standing beside a height chart this week, revealing his short stature.
It’s not clear why he was in North Carolina that day.
Thomas said that the Trump banner actually belongs to his 87-year-old mother who was “pretty upset” about the ordeal. He said he plans to replace the stolen banner soon.
“We’re not the kind of people that are going to be intimidated,’ he said. “We’re going to have our signs up if we want them.”
Campbell was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia and is charged with felonious assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, discharging a firearm to incite fear and willful and wanton injury to personal property.
He was extradited to Swain County on Oct. 7 before he was released on a $70,000 bond.
