The glass front door of the Larimer County Republican campaign office was smashed with a brick on Thursday morning, and party officials decry the vandalism as an attempt at political intimidation.
A report on the incident has been filed with Fort Collins police, said Ron Weinberg, the county’s GOP chairman.
Volunteers arrived at the office at about 10 a.m. and found the smashed glass, Weinberg said.
Police talked with two witnesses who told investigators that the incident happened at about 5 a.m., according to Weinberg. The witnesses were in the area sheltering from the rain.
The witnesses told police that a man on a bicycle wearing black clothing with “anarchist patches” rode up to the door front and started yelling “political slurs,” Weinberg said. The man then used a brick to smash the front glass before leaving.
Police on Thursday afternoon confirmed that they responded to a report of vandalism at the property.
“The glass on the door was broken at some point overnight,” police said in an email statement. “No entry was made into the building, and no suspect information was available. Anyone with information about this incident…is encouraged to contact police.”
The Colorado Republican Party released a written statement Thursday saying, in part, that: “No other businesses in the vicinity were vandalized or broken into.”
The campaign office is in a strip mall on South College Avenue among various businesses.
Colorado GOP Chairwoman Kristi Burton Brown, in the statement, described the incident as an act of political intimidation.
“Let me be clear: there is no place for violence or intimidation in politics,” Brown said. “Our Party and leaders won’t be silenced or cowed by this vandalism.”