Anti-Trump Seattle-area man charged in shooting of wheelchair-bound veteran

A man who once made national headlines for previously driving a van into a tent of Trump campaign volunteers is now charged with shooting a wheelchair-bound veteran along Seattle’s waterfront.

Gregory William Timm, now 32, first gained notoriety in 2020 when he plowed his vehicle into a Republican voter registration tent in Jacksonville, Florida. No one was injured, but the attack rattled volunteers and drew a sharp rebuke from then-President Donald Trump, who warned on social media: “Be careful tough guys who you play with!”

Timm was convicted of criminal mischief in that case, later telling the court he felt it was his “duty” to take action against the Trump administration.

Now, prosecutors in King County, Washington, say Timm is behind a July 31 shooting that left Harold James Powell, an elderly man in a wheelchair wearing a military patch, hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the chest.

According to charging documents obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Timm confronted Powell outside a Starbucks on Alaskan Way, accusing him of “stolen valor” and demanding proof of his veteran status. Witnesses told police that Powell, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a military patch, had been asking passersby for money. Timm allegedly ripped a military patch from Powell’s belongings, prompting Powell to produce a knife and later a holstered airsoft gun that the court filing says Powell never removed from its holster.

Prosecutors allege that Timm then drew a .45 caliber handgun, took several steps back, and shot Powell in the chest at point-blank range. “This was a completely unnecessary act of violence committed by the defendant to a vulnerable victim who was confined to his wheelchair,” Senior Deputy Prosecutor Elaine S. Lee wrote in the bail request.

A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer happened to be nearby, heard the gunshot, and detained Timm until Seattle police arrived. Powell was rushed to Harborview Medical Center in serious condition.

Timm is charged with first-degree assault with a firearm enhancement and is being held on $750,000 bail. His arraignment is scheduled for August 18 in King County Superior Court.

Under Washington law, prosecutors say, a defendant cannot claim self-defense if they provoked the confrontation, something they argue Timm did by initiating the dispute and forcibly taking Powell’s property.

"If you provoke an attack upon yourself, you lose the right to claim self-defense," said Casey McNerthney, spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.