October 27, 201810/27/2018

Mail bomber Cesar Sayoc's deep NC ties, and Trump responds to his capture at Charlotte rally

Many in North Carolina quickly noticed that mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc's van, plastered with eccentric stickers, had some stickers that hit close to home. There were graphics touting many of the UNC-system's schools and private North Carolina colleges as well. 

Sayoc was an avid soccer player and had been on the Brevard College team. The school, south of Hendersonville in the N.C. mountains, is a small community that was not expecting this kind of news about an alumnus. 

He did not graduate from this institution though and later transferred to another North Carolina school, UNC-Charlotte, where he also played soccer briefly in 1983. 

Criminal connections too

Sayoc's connections to the state do not only touch on college and sports. He became a troubled adult and was both homeless and in trouble with the law at times. 

While living in Mint Hill, a southern Charlotte suburb, Sayoc ran into trouble with police in Matthews after a car he was driving was determined to be stolen. He also had arrests in Florida and a history of financial trouble. 

Trump addresses Sayoc's bombing attempts at Charlotte rally

During President Trump's speech in front of a crowd in Charlotte, he praised law enforcement for tracking down Sayoc and said he deserves to be given a harsh sentence. The president then pivoted to how he believed the media and Democrats were using the situation as an opportunity to attack him.

“The media’s constant unfair coverage, deep hostility and negative attacks only serve to drive people apart and undermine healthy debate," said Mr. Trump. "For example, we have seen the media in recent hours use the sinister actions of one individual to score political points against me and the Republican Party. Yet when a Bernie Sanders supporter tried to murder congressional Republicans and tried to murder a great man, we did not use that heinous attempt for political gain, because that would have been wrong.”

North Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Goodwin released a statement before the Trump rally in Charlotte laying at least some of the blame for the attacks at the president's feet, saying, “This week’s events have shown that President Trump’s lies, rhetoric, and attacks have consequences."

Goodwin also predicted that, "rather than focus on uniting our state and country in the wake of these assassination attempts on prominent Democratic officials and supporters, President Trump will undoubtedly do what he does best: stoke division and fear."

The rally was held in large part to bolster the competitive congressional races in District 9 (running from Charlotte along the South Carolina border towards Fayetteville) and District 13 (covering northeastern Charlotte suburbs and large parts of the Triad). Mark Harris and Ted Budd are the Republican candidates vying for these seats, and both also spoke at the rally.