Rakeem Jones made headlines on Thursday after a video emerged of him being sucker-punched in the face while attending a Donald Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Jones, who was attempting to leave the venue when the incident occurred, told MSNBC that the assault began after a rally attendee yelled for his to “get [his] a– out of [there].”
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Police officers came to escort Jones and his friend out of the venue when he received the blow to the face.
Video from the rally offers multiple vantage points, including commentary from Trump as well as several angles of Jones’s attack.
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Ronnie Rouse, a friend of Jones, spoke with MSNBC as well, sharing that Trump’s urging that the men should “get out of here” and “go home to mom” was the catalyst for Jones’s reaction to stick up his middle finger.
“Rakeem’s mother died when he was 18-years-old and he got a little emotional about that,” Rouse said.
John McGraw, a 78-year-old white man, was charged with assault and disorderly conduct for his attack on Jones.
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