HIALEAH, Fla. – Officials with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office released surveillance video Wednesday showing last month’s violent attack on a canvasser for Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in Hialeah.
Two men were accused in the Oct. 23 attack on Christopher Monzon as he passed out campaign material near East 60th Street and First Avenue.
Documents obtained by Local 10 News showed Monzon had been paid nearly $1500 per week for about eight weeks to canvass for Republican candidates.
The case gained national attention after Rubio highlighted it in a tweet the following day.
While Hialeah police initially said there was “no indication” of a political motive in the attack, Monzon later told officers in a sworn statement that 27-year-old Jonathan Casanova told him he “couldn’t pass through because he was a Republican and his dogs were ready to attack,” police later said.
Police also arrested 25-year-old Javier Lopez.
In an interview with the Miami Herald, Lopez’s mother denied a political motive, saying “My son doesn’t know anything about politics. He likes fishing … My son has never voted.”
Rubio criticized the newspaper’s reporting on the incident, saying “When a Republican volunteer is savagely beaten the traditional media treats the victim as the criminal and the criminal as a nice young man who likes fishing and just made a mistake.”
The senator was alluding to coverage of Monzon’s past ties to white nationalist groups.
Both Lopez and Casanova are facing aggravated battery charges.