Donald Trump's Dayton rally was tense as security detail stormed stage
The morning after violence rocked an axed Donald Trump rally in Chicago, tensions were running high at a rally he held in Ohio on Saturday.
Protesters continuously interrupted the event, held at Dayton International Airport, and at one point security personnel rushed the stage after several people were heard screaming behind Trump.
According to reporters at the event, someone may have been trying to rush the stage.
You May Also Like
The incident took place moments after Trump had finished belittling another protester who was being led out of the event space.
As he tried to resume his speech, several shouts were heard behind him and he ducked towards the podium. Members of his security detail rushed the stage and surrounded him.
At one point, one of the men can be overheard on the microphone telling Trump, "We are going to wrap up."
Trump, who was visibly sweating throughout the event, appeared rattled by the encounter.
"Thanks for the warning!" he said to supporters as he tried to restart his speech. " "I was ready for him, but it's much easier if the cops do it, right?"
A spokeswoman for Donald Trump says a man tried to breach the security buffer at his event in Ohio, leading U.S. Secret Service agents to briefly rush the stage to surround the Republican presidential candidate.
Spokeswoman Hope Hicks says the man "was removed rapidly and professionally."
Witnesses at the event reported that a man jumped a barricade near the stage. Video shows just how close he came to the stage before tackled.
Thomas Dimassimo, 32, of Fairborn, was arrested at the rally on suspicion of disorderly conduct and inducing panic, Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer confirmed to the Dayton Daily.
The incident was just one of several interruptions to the event. Just moments earlier, Trump told another person being escorted out on the opposite side of the room to "Go back home to mommy."
"Guy looks like he's 15 years old, what's going on over here," said Trump. "Take him back home to mom, she'll lock him in his bedroom."
Near the beginning of his event, he remarked, "If there's a group out there just throw them the hell out."
The event comes just three days before the state holds a pivotal winner-takes-all primary. Trump has several other events planned in Ohio in the coming days.
Trump has repeatedly called for violence at his rallies and has publicly supported a heavy handed approach to dealing with the protesters who interrupt them.
But early Saturday morning, Trump tweeted that the violence on display at his Chicago rally somehow demonstrated that "organized thugs" were "energizing people" in America.
Trump's campaign seems to have crossed a threshold this week, after a North Carolina protester was sucker-punched in an incident that resulted in criminal charges for the attacker, and a chaotic rally in St. Louis was continuously interrupted before Trump supporters and protesters scuffled outside.
Additional information from the Associated Press.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Topics Donald Trump
Megan Specia was Mashable's Assistant Real-Time News Editor and joined the team in September 2014. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism & Mass Communications from the University of New Hampshire after growing up in the Jersey 'burbs. She made her way to New York via a four year stopover in Dublin. Megan previously worked as a journalist and editor at Storyful in both Dublin and New York. Before all of that, though, her claim to fame was as head cake arranger and purveyor of all things sweet at Queen of Tarts cafe in Dublin, where she developed a serious addiction to macarons.
