Samuel Case, FISM News

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This FBI has reportedly launched an investigation into gunshots fired at the Hickory, North Carolina home of GOP congressional candidate Pat Harrigan’s parents while his children were inside. No one was injured but the family says the incident has caused “tremendous stress” as the midterms draw near. 

Pat Harrigan is a former Green Beret running for North Carolina’s new 14th District seat against Democratic state Senator Jeff Jackson. Real Clear Politics rates the race as “likely Democrat.” 

The Harrigan family revealed the news to the AP on Thursday. Marla Harrigan, the candidate’s mother, said that she and her husband, James, were watching TV on the night of October 18 when a bullet shattered a window in their laundry room. The candidates’ two children, 3 and 5 years old, were sleeping in the room above the laundry room but did not wake up.

Marla Harrigan said the kids have been living with them during the campaign, but have since left the state “out of an abundance of caution after the shooting.” 

“It’s just disconcerting, especially with the children there,” she said. “This campaign is so stressful, and we feel so badly for our son because, you know, he’s terribly stressed about his children … and now they’re gone, they’re not with their parents and it’s just very, very disruptive.”

Fox News reports that as of Thursday no arrests have been made and that Harrigan’s campaign has not officially confirmed the FBI’s involvement, which was first reported by WBT News.

Harrigan’s campaign released a statement blaming his opponent in part for the incident.

“Jeff Jackson’s brand of politics leads to runaway inflation, economic ruin, and rampant crime – including political violence. Voters literally cannot afford to have him in Congress,” the statement said.

Harrigan recently shared an open letter to Jackson, accusing him of putting a target on his family with a recent ad filmed outside the Hickory Home. 

“On September 28th, you and your team shot a television ad outside one of my homes in Hickory, North Carolina,” he wrote, saying Jackson “crossed a red line” by “targeting family domiciles.”

“I’m never going to film an ad in front of your home, violating the sanctity and security of your family- putting their lives at risk,” he later says. “It just doesn’t seem like the ‘honest and decent’ thing to do. Quite frankly, it would be so dishonest and indecent that the thought has never crossed my mind. I’m sorry that it crossed yours.”