Owner Of California ‘Trump House’ Fighting For Life After Brutal Attack - the phdailynews.org
Escondido police responded around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday to reports of an assault in progress near the intersection of East Mission Avenue and Buchanan Street, directly adjacent to Sheron’s heavily decorated home.
When officers arrived, they found the 69-year-old suffering from catastrophic injuries.
Authorities said a utility worker who witnessed the attack stepped in and helped restrain the suspect until police arrived.
Sheron was rushed to a trauma center, where he remained in critical condition in the ICU.
His wife, Maria Garcia, gave a devastating update as the family waits for what appears to be the worst.
She told reporters she does not expect her husband to survive.
Garcia also believes the attack may have been politically motivated, given the history surrounding the home.
“He tried to kill my husband, you know,” Garcia told CBS 8. “It’s terrible. I don’t know what kind of hate… what heart, the black heart.”
The home, known throughout the San Diego area as the “Trump House,” has long been covered in American flags, patriotic decorations and pro-Trump displays.
For years, the property has attracted both supporters and critics.
Garcia suggested the visible patriotic displays may have fueled hostility.
“They don’t like the flags. I don’t know why. I support America. My husband is [a] veteran,” she said.
Police arrested 32-year-old Thomas Caleb Butler, who has now been charged with attempted murder.
He is being held without bail at the Vista Detention Facility in San Diego County.
Authorities say Butler fled the scene after the attack but was quickly tracked down and arrested.
Police also said a bystander who intervened during the violence suffered injuries.
A friend of Butler told the California Post that the suspect is a Navy veteran with serious mental health struggles.
“This is the guy that plays with Legos and Star Wars stuff,” the friend reportedly said.
According to the friend, Butler had been taking medication for mental illness, but his condition had worsened significantly.
The friend described Butler as increasingly paranoid and unstable.
“He sits in his room and thinks everyone is coming to get him,” the friend reportedly said.
The same source said Butler had been unemployed after his time in the Navy.
While police have not publicly declared a motive, Sheron’s home has previously been the target of vandalism and complaints.
Its highly visible political messaging made it one of the most recognizable private homes in the area.
That history has fueled immediate speculation that politics may have played a role.
California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa called for swift action.
“Full and immediate investigation,” Issa wrote on X.
He also claimed Trump supporters are increasingly being targeted.
President Trump’s supporters are “routinely the victims of leftist violence all across the country,” Issa said.
At this stage, investigators have not publicly confirmed whether politics played any role in the alleged attempted killing.
Mental illness may also be a major factor, based on accounts from those who knew the suspect.
Still, for Sheron’s family, those questions are secondary to the immediate tragedy unfolding.
Sheron’s patriotic home became a symbol for supporters in the area who saw it as an unapologetic display of American pride.
Now it has become the backdrop for a horrifying act of violence.
The utility worker who intervened may have prevented an even worse outcome, though Sheron’s condition remains dire, Fox News reported.
As of the latest reports, Butler remains behind bars awaiting further court proceedings.
Police have not released additional details about the circumstances leading up to the confrontation.
For now, a veteran known for proudly displaying his support for America and President Trump is fighting for his life, while his family braces for what may come next.
Trump ‘Briefed With Options’ Amid Stalled Iran Talks
The Trump administration on Wednesday continued to express optimism about negotiations with Iran, even as Iranian officials insist that no direct talks have taken place, according to reports.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister said no face-to-face meeting had occurred in Doha and that no direct negotiations with the United States were currently planned.
Despite Tehran’s position, President Donald Trump described the discussions as “very good,” apparently referring to indirect contacts involving U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner communicating through third-party intermediaries.
Vice President JD Vance struck a firmer tone the same day, warning that the United States could escalate its response if Iran refuses to cooperate or takes actions that further destabilize the Middle East.
His remarks underscored the administration’s message that while it remains open to a diplomatic resolution, additional measures remain on the table if negotiations fail.
“If Iran attempts to rebuild its nuclear program, threaten its neighbors and support terrorism, President Trump has options to deal with it,” Vance noted, without elaborating.
Earlier, a Wall Street Journal report claimed that Trump had been briefed on several military options, including “all-out war,” but Trump said he wanted to give diplomacy more time.
Vance additionally stated that the US “dropped bombs on Iran because it fired on ships, and we used leverage to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.”
He went on to suggest that the U.S. could take that course of action again.
Vance also said the current talks are “to discuss the details and flow of maritime traffic.”
The vice president, addressing U.S. military personnel at a naval base in Virginia on Wednesday, also said that Iran’s nuclear program has been set back decades.
“If you look at what our own intelligence says about their nuclear program, they are further away from developing a nuclear bomb than they have ever been since basically the last 20 or 30 years,” Vance said, though he stopped short of Trump’s claim that the program had been “totally obliterated.”
“What the president asks you to accomplish is to destroy the defense industrial base of that country, so that if they ever decided to rebuild their military, or if they ever decided to rebuild that nuclear program, they would be harmless to do it. You did that exactly as well,” Vance added, per the Times of Israel.
The VP went on to say that Trump is now “negotiating from a position of strength because of you.”
“If the Iranians try to rebuild the nuclear program, the President’s got options. If the Iranians try to threaten their neighbors or fund terrorism, we’ve got options,” Vance continued.
“But what we must never do is drop bombs just for the sake of dropping bombs. And that is what the president will never ask you to do,” Vance added.
“He’ll ask you to go to war, yes. But when he asks you to go to war, he’ll tell you exactly what you’re going for,” the veep noted further.
“And I think that is what you should expect out of your political leadership.”
“What I noticed about the people who are attacking the administration for negotiating is that they are the very same people who, for example, encouraged us to just go a little bit further and just drop a few more bombs in places like Afghanistan,” he said.
“If you go back to the mistakes that were made, those very same people refused to say what we were dropping bombs for,” he added.
“We dropped some bombs a couple of days ago… Because the Iranians were shooting at commercial ships… We applied some leverage, and we’ve had free commercial transit for the last three days,” Vance told the naval personnel.
