There are moments when a quiet rural road suddenly reads like a national headline — a flash of violence, a political symbol, and ordinary life thrown into the headlights.
That’s the frame here: a 62‑year‑old river rafting business owner, a Trump banner on his mother’s property, and a 38‑year‑old accountant who, according to surveillance footage and local authorities, allegedly escalated a roadside dispute into a dangerous shooting.
Mark Thomas watched it unfold on camera. He saw a Jeep screech to a halt, a masked man climb out and rip down the banner, then return to his vehicle. Thomas, alarmed and convinced his property and family were under attack, grabbed a rifle and fired two warning shots into the air.
Rather than retreat, the intruder — later identified by prosecutors as Benjamin Michael Campbell, a married accountant from Cobb County, Atlanta — circled back, raised a pistol from the Jeep’s sunroof, and fired multiple rounds toward the property. One bullet struck a refrigerator on Thomas’s porch; by Thomas’s account and the video he showed to the press, he narrowly avoided being hit.
The charges filed by the Swain County Sheriff’s Office reflect the seriousness of what the footage captures: Class C felony assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, discharging a firearm with intent to incite fear, and willful and wanton injury to personal property.
Campbell was booked on September 30 and extradited from Georgia to North Carolina, held on $70,000 bond. If convicted, the maximum penalty for the Class C felony count can reach up to 17 years in prison.
This incident lands at the volatile intersection of politics and personal safety. A banner — a political symbol — became the spark for a violent exchange. Thomas framed his reaction as defensive, saying he had weapons for protection and that he fired warning shots because someone was tampering with his family’s property.
He described the alleged shooter’s actions as deliberate and life‑threatening: circling back, firing through the sunroof, and apparently aiming in the direction of people on the porch.
Campbell’s reported mask and the footage of him handling the banner add layers to the story that prosecutors will weigh alongside witness testimony, physical evidence, and the surveillance video.
