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By Tim Fitzsimons and the Associated Press
The police arrested a man who cut another man with a sword after the victim hit his head on his "Make America Great Again" hat, the San Francisco police said on Thursday.
Leor Bergland, 30, of San Francisco, was arrested Wednesday night at a restaurant by police officers overseeing his neighborhood since the March 29 incident, police said. Bergland has been indicted for attempted murder, assault, aggravated assault, concealed door or concealed dagger and weapon brandishing, according to NBC Bay Area.
A Berkeley, Calif., And Bergland, 27, met outside the popular 8-Wheeled Church, a roller-blading rink located in a former Fillmore District church in San Francisco. the police said.
Bergland drew his sword and sliced the victim's hand after it hit Bergland's hat with President Donald Trump's campaign slogan, police said.
The victim and another man briefly pursued Bergland, but stopped after he returned them and brandished the sword, police said.
The victim was treated and released from the hospital, according to police, who did not reveal the name of the victim.
The prison records do not indicate whether Bergland is represented by a lawyer.
Scott Sweeney, a passerby, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he was in the same neighborhood where the attack had occurred about 30 minutes before the incident and saw a man wearing a MAGA hat and a sword stored in the back of his jacket. Sweeney said the man was shouting homophobic insults.
"In my mind, I did not think it was a real sword before we went out later and the police were on the scene and there was blood and a hat on the floor" , did he declare.
David Miles, who runs the rink of the former Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, said that he had not attended the attack but had escaped to help the victim.
Miles added that officers had asked him if a man dressed as a pirate had entered the rink, but he had declared that he had not seen anyone of that kind.
Bergland, who by public records, appears to be homeless, has a history of arrests in Oregon. In October 2012, in Multnomah County, he was charged with criminal mischief, illegal entry into a motor vehicle and theft.
Until 2019, people wearing MAGA hats from the Trump brand have been both victims and perpetrators of acts of violence.
In January, an armed man wearing a MAGA hat attempted to participate in a Drag Queen Story Hour event in the Houston area, according to the Houston Chronicle. In February, a man wearing a MAGA hat at a Trump rally in Texas reportedly "pushed and pushed violently" a BBC cameraman. Trump supporters have been targeted because of their hats in Kentucky, Oklahoma, Florida, and Arizona.
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