A fundraiser for U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan was interrupted Saturday evening when a protester rushed the stage and reached into her bag to pull out what appeared to some as a gun, to others as a cell phone, and to still others as the heart of a caribou, or was it a moose?
It turned out that it was some kind of animal organ and some associated blood and other organic matter that she was attempting to lob at Sen. Sullivan and his wife, Julie, who at that point stood as the only line of defense between the attacker and the senator.
A brief tussle ensued as the attacker was brought to the ground and then she and her several accomplices were removed from the hangar near the Ted Stevens International Airport, where the fundraiser had brought together over 150 supporters of the senator.
The Sullivan campaign had been tipped off that Al Gross supporters were coming into disrupt the event, as they had earlier done in Fairbanks. Trackers for Gross have been to other Sullivan events, but this was the most violent attack so far.
Bystander Mike Robbins was in the crowd and saw someone rushing the stage. His instincts kicked in and he grabbed two of the women protesters, and escorted them out, and came back in and ejected a man who was trying, at that point, to blend in with the crowd. The rainbow-haired man evidently was the protesters’ filmmaker there to document the event.
One of the protesters tried to unfurl a banner, but it was whisked away by a woman in the crowd. Rep. Sharon Jackson also sprung into action to protect and defend her former boss, Sen. Sullivan.
The commotion only lasted a few minutes before the four or five protesters were hustled outside, but meanwhile, the scene was chaotic and unsettling for the people attending, who had been attempting to socially distance.
