MAN WHO SPRAYED ILHAN OMAR WITH VINEGAR SENTENCED TO 14 MONTHS

Anthony Kazmierczak has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for spraying Democratic US Representative Ilhan Omar with a vinegar-and-water mixture at a town hall in her Minneapolis district. US District Judge Joan N Ericksen handed down the sentence on Thursday, after Kazmierczak pleaded guilty to assaulting a federal official, and added three years of supervised release with no contact with Omar. Ericksen said the attack "wasn't a spur-of-the-moment act", noting he had bought tickets weeks beforehand. US marshals then escorted Kazmierczak from the courtroom.

The assault happened on 27 January when Kazmierczak, seated in the front row, leapt up and sprayed the mixture from a syringe onto Omar's clothing and skin, shouting that she was "splitting Minnesota apart". Omar's security team subdued him, he was arrested, and Omar was not injured. Kazmierczak, who has Parkinson's disease, apologised to Omar, saying "I really apologise to her for having put her through that." His attorney said he had not been taking his medication before the attack.

The attack came during Operation Metro Surge, an immigration enforcement operation the US government ran in Minneapolis and St Paul with more than 2,000 federal officers, amid protests in which two US citizens, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal agents. Omar had called for the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the resignation of Kristi Noem, then US Homeland Security Secretary, over her handling of the deployment. One report said Kazmierczak admitted targeting Omar over differing political views. Ericksen said an attack on a public figure "is not a political statement" but is "misguided, selfish and inconsistent with any concept of a free or democratic society."