A Donald Trump supporter has been convicted of shooting at a group of men after taking offence to a Joe Biden flag on a Jet Ski.
Eduardo Acosta, 39, faces up to life in prison, with a mandatory sentence of at least 20 years, when he is sentenced on December 16 after a Miami jury found him guilty of attempted murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and armed robbery.
It took the jury less than two hours to convict the Trump supporter after he shot at two men riding a Jet Ski on election day, Tuesday, 3 November 2020, with a Joe Biden flag.
However, the six-person jury was difficult to pick after multiple jurors were unable to serve due to their own political persuasions.
Acosta was riding his Jet Ski with a group of friends when prosecutors alleged they approached two men on Biscayne Bay island in Florida.
The group noticed two men, Wilson Peralta and Alfredo Garcia, riding a Jet Ski with a Biden flag on.
Unhappy at the flag and their support for Biden, Acosta started to argue with the men and claimed anyone who was a supporter of him was a “child molester.”
The insult, which comes from a completely unfounded QAnon conspiracy theory, claims a “deep state” group of child sex traffickers were hiding behind the scenes trying to defeat Donald Trump.
One of the men recorded a video on their phone of Acosta aggressively coming towards them but was held back by one of his friends.
However, Acosta soon returned back to the group with a handgun and began shooting at the group who desperately got on their Jet Ski and tried to escape him.
The two victims were forced into the water after one of the bullets nearly hit them.
According to police Acosta tracked the pair down on the water and held them at gunpoint and allegedly said in Spanish: “Don’t come back to this island. I’m going to kill you."
The victims fortunately escaped without any injuries.
Acosta's defence lawyer, Eric Matheny, claimed he got hold of his gun because he was scared of the two men as they were acting 'erratically' after returning to the island.
He told jurors Acosta's gun accidentally went off when he was on his Jet Ski: "His Jet Ski hit a rough patch of water and the shock of the impact caused his hand to slip and the tip of his index finger caught the trigger and fired a round into the water."
The lawyer said he was "heartbroken" by the verdict and would try to appeal, he added: "We believed very strongly in our case.”
