East Bay congressional candidate Rudy Peters was attacked Sunday afternoon at a downtown festival in Castro Valley by a man allegedly brandishing a switchblade. The suspect, 35-year-old Farzad Fazeli, had been arguing with Peters, who is a Republican, about his political party and views.
Fazeli was later arrested by Alameda County sheriff’s deputies and charged with making criminal threats (felony) and exhibiting a deadly weapon and possessing a switchblade (misdemeanors), according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Peters is facing Rep. Eric Swalwell this November in the 15th congressional district.
According to news reports, Peters said he heard someone yelling, “Fuck Trump! Fuck Trump!” prior to the incident.
Fazeli approached the booth, had words with Peters, and later threw a cup of coffee at him before revealing a switchblade that ultimately malfunctioned. The incident occurred at a booth manned by Peters to promote his congressional campaign.
Peters, a U.S. Navy veteran, then defended himself with a sign from an adjacent booth before grabbing Fazeli and subdueing him to the ground.
Peters is a Livermore businessman who founded a systems engineering company in 2013 that focuses on working with federal intelligence agencies.
He won the second spot in the top two primary last June, along with Swalwell, by receiving 26 percent of the vote in the Tri-Valley district that also includes Hayward and Tri-Cities areas including a portion of Fremont.
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