A disabled war veteran in Portland said he was hospitalized for serious injuries after a group of Black Lives Matter (BLM) agitators attacked and beat him last week.
Joe Hall, 53, said that BLM protesters allegedly armed with rifles surrounded his car when he exited his work truck, Fox 12 in Portland reported. Hall said he was driving through the area after finishing a job to his next one, and the crowd stopped his work truck as they blocked the road—a common tactic used by the Marxist group.
“All of a sudden these agitators come out, screaming, pounding on my truck,” Hall told the Fox station, adding that when he tried to drive around the group, he stopped because he thought he hit something with his vehicle.
“By this time I’ve got five people surrounding my vehicle, AR-15s, AK-47s,” Hall, who served in the Marine Corps and Army, recalled. “I pulled my .38 out of my right pocket and pointed it at the ground and told them if a weapon points at me again, I will shoot to eliminate the threat.”
Hall said that someone then tackled him and grabbed his pistol before the group started kicking and hitting him, according to the station.
Describing his injuries, the veteran said he suffered a “partially collapsed left lung” along with broken ribs, a broken collarbone, head trauma, and spinal injuries.
“It looked like he was face down and then people were kneeling on top of him,” a witness told the Fox affiliate.