Shots Fired at Republican Candidate’s Family Home Where Children Were Sleeping

The Carolina Journal reported that on October 18th, a shooting occurred at the residence of GOP congressional candidate Pat Harrigan’s parents.

Harrigan is running against Democrat state Sen. Jeff Jackson in NC’s 14^th congressional district.

“CJ spoke with Harrigan campaign manager Brandon Craft, who said that someone shot into the Hickory residence and that the investigation has been on-going since that time,” The Carolina Journal reported.

“Harrigan’s parents currently own and live in the home, but Craft said that Harrigan’s children were in the home when the incident occurred and the shot entered only a few feet from where the children were sleeping.”

Shots fired at Republican candidate Pat Harrigan's North Carolina home

His family including his young daughters were almost killed. https://t.co/1ixixuFHCv

— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) November 4, 2022

Sen. Jackson aired a political campaign ad outside of Harrigan’s home.

From the Daily Mail:

The congressional candidate’s daughters, aged 3 and 5, were asleep in the bedroom directly above the room where the shooting occurred, with the bullet coming from a densely wooded area behind the house, piercing a window but not waking the girls.

Harrigan, a firearms manufacturer and former Green Beret, has since come forward to assert he would not be intimidated by the shooting, and that ‘death threats aren’t enough to knock this Green Beret off that mission.’

Because of these threats – which has spurred the ex-soldier to don bulletproof vests to campaign events – the family said the two girls had been living with their grandparents for much of the campaign cycle.

They have since been relocated out of state – while Harrigan, who was not at the residence during the incident, has revealed he owns a property near the home where the shooting occurred. No injuries were reported.

His opponent, meanwhile, Democrat Jeff Jackson, has been forced to pull an ad filmed outside his opponent’s lakeside home criticizing his gun manufacturing business, as well as his ownership of a ritzy home in a neighborhood outside the confines of the 14th Congressional District.

The ad shows a man on a jet ski as a narrator tells listeners Harrigan ‘made a fortune’ off tragedies such as the Sandy Hook Shooting, and bought a lake house. It then shows an image of Harrigan’s home, which is not far from that of his parents. It was  released on the day of the shooting – and spurred an angry open letter from Harrigan to Jackson just a week later.

Cops and federal agents have yet to make an arrest.

Harrigan spoke about the incident on Fox News:

Jeff Jackson's silence on the results of his vile and dishonest campaign is deafening but not surprising. I call on him to condemn the violence & apologize for his lies, but he won't. If he did, then he'd have to start talking about inflation, a broken economy, & rampant crime. pic.twitter.com/5pr1wqlGYF

— Pat Harrigan (@PatHarriganNC) November 4, 2022

The Carolina Journal added:

The investigators tasked with overseeing the incident could not be reached for comment. According to Craft, the investigation is now being handled in a coordinated effort between local, state, and federal officials.

The event comes in the midst of a fairly negative campaign between the two NC-14 candidates, with Harrigan recently challenging Jackson to a debate in an open letter and Jackson questioning Harrigan’s residency in NC-14. While residency in the district is not required for congressional races, some voters consider it a negative if a candidate resides outside.

Tensions are high across the country, as well, with less than a week left until Election Day. This incident is just one in a pattern of recent attacks involving other elected officials, candidates, and their families, notably the attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi; a shooting at New York GOP gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin’s home; and a reported assault of Republican U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc of New Hampshire at a campaign event Nov. 2.

WATCH: Another GOP Candidate ATTACKED?