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Videos capture creepy weirdo taking a swing at TPUSA members in Texas — and his immediate arrest

Read the original at Blaze Media ↗
Cite

Garcia, C. (2026, November 12). Videos capture creepy weirdo taking a swing at TPUSA members in Texas — and his immediate arrest. Blaze Media. https://www.theblaze.com/news/video-tpusa-texas-attack-tent

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Blaze Media · collected 2026-11-12 · by Carlos Garcia

Quick Summary

Ciro Stephen Tomlian, 19, was arrested for allegedly assaulting three members of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) at the University of Texas at Tyler on Tuesday. Video footage shows Tomlian, dressed in a cape and carrying a staff or cane, ripping an American flag from the TPUSA tent and verbally abusing the members before swinging the cane at them. Tomlian was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault causing bodily injury. The university president issued a statement condemning violence on campus and supporting free speech.
Written by AI on 2026-11-13, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).
See how they differ ↓

AI analysis

Story summary

On November 7, Ciro Stephen Tomlian, a former student at UT Tyler who was not currently enrolled, was arrested for assaulting three members of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) during their "Pick Up the Mic" event on campus. Wearing a "wizard outfit," Tomlian used a prop cane to strike TPUSA representatives and attendees and tore down an American flag from the event. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault causing bodily injury. According to video footage, Tomlian also verbally insulted organizers as "fascist pieces of st" before being arrested by campus police and booked into Smith County Jail. UT Tyler President Julie Philley** condemned the incident and said that Tomlian was criminally trespassed from campus.

Written for “Wizard Outfit Attack On TPUSA” on 2026-11-13, grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans right (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans right for article 149480 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-11-13

How they differ

4 outlets covered “Wizard Outfit Attack On TPUSA”.

What each outlet says

One AI summary per outlet of its latest article on this story, written from that article alone and checked against it. Open the article for the outlet's own words.

The BlazeThis outlet12 Nov

Ciro Stephen Tomlian, 19, was arrested for allegedly assaulting three members of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) at the University of Texas at Tyler on Tuesday. Video footage shows Tomlian, dressed in a cape and carrying a staff or cane, ripping an American flag from the TPUSA tent and verbally abusing the members before swinging the cane at them. Tomlian was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly…

Videos capture creepy weirdo taking a swing at TPUSA members in Texas — and his immediate arrest (this article)
Just the News12 Nov

Police have identified Ciro Stephen Tomlian, a former student of UT Tyler from Jacksonville, as the individual arrested for assaulting members of Turning Point USA at the university on Tuesday. Wearing a "wizard outfit," Tomlian used a "prop cane" to strike three people and tear down an American flag during TPUSA's event. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of…

Police identify former student arrested for assaulting TPUSA in 'wizard outfit,' using 'prop cane' →2 articles from Just the News on this story
Fox News11 Nov

Texas police have identified Ciro Tomlian as the man charged with assaulting students from Turning Point USA on the University of Texas at Tyler campus. Video shows Tomlian swinging a cane at students after throwing an American flag on the ground; he faces two charges of aggravated assault and one for causing bodily injury. The incident occurred during a TPUSA event, and university president Julie V. Philley…

MICHAEL RUIZ: Texas police ID man charged with assault in UT Tyler Turning Point USA attack caught on video →
New York Post12 Nov

Texas authorities have arrested Ciro Tomlian, a former student wearing a wizard hat, after he attacked Turning Point USA (TPUSA) students at the University of Texas at Tyler on Tuesday. Video footage shows Tomlian throwing an American flag and swinging a cane to hit TPUSA members during the altercation. He faces charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and causing bodily injury for allegedly…

Former student in wizard hat arrested for attacking TPUSA group at Texas university →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans right and hedges 14% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Just The News
Hedges 2 of 12 claims Outlet record 94/100

Story

Wizard Outfit Attack On TPUSA
Crime & Law · 6 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↑
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
14%
3 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
94/100
Blaze Media's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
6
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Blaze Media · 134 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Carlos Garcia
16 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
Everyone has the right to free speech, and violence will not be tolerated at this university.'
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One race in North Carolina has prevented a complete takeover of the state's government by Democrats, if the final tally after a provisional-ballot count holds. Democrats control the governor's office of North Carolina, and unofficial election counts indicate they will take over the state's House of Representatives.
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Brand may face more charges, as London's Metropolitan Police confirmed they are investigating two other allegations of rape.
Also by Carlos Garcia
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 16 articles by Carlos Garcia →

Topics

Smith County TPUSA Turning Point USA UT Tyler the University of Texas at Tyler

Subjects

TPUSA ORG · 4× Tomlian PERSON · 4× Julie Philley PERSON · 2× UT Tyler ORG · 2× American NORP · 1× Chron ORG · 1× Ciro Stephen Tomlian PERSON · 1× Smith County GPE · 1× Turning Point USA ORG · 1× the University of Texas at Tyler ORG · 1×

Narrative

Another alleged attack on Turning Point USA was captured on video, this time at the University of Texas at Tyler. Ciro Stephen Tomlian, 19, is accused of assaulting three people at the TPUSA tent at the university on Tuesday. '
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-13
Everyone has the right to free speech, and violence will not be tolerated at this university.'

Claims (21 extracted, 3 hedged)

The former student was arrested on three charges related to the alleged attack. asserted
student → arrest → attack
Another alleged attack on Turning Point USA was captured on video, this time at the University of Texas at Tyler. Ciro Stephen Tomlian, 19, is accused of assaulting three people at the TPUSA tent at the university on Tuesday. ' asserted
Tomlian → allege → Tuesday
Everyone has the right to free speech, and violence will not be tolerated at this university.' asserted
violence → have → university
Video from the incident shows Tomlian bizarrely march up to the tent dressed in a cape and holding what appears to be a staff or a cane. asserted
what → show → cape
He rips an American flag from the tent before he's confronted by TPUSA members, whom he calls "fascist pieces of s**t," according to video. uncertain
he → rip → video
He curses at them, raises the middle finger, and yells, "Back the f*** up!" before swinging the cane at them, the video appears to show. asserted
video → curse → them
An officer can be seen rushing in to handcuff the man. asserted
officer → see → man
"I apologize, Officer," Tomlian mutters. asserted
Tomlian → apologize → ?
Two videos of the altercation were posted to social media. asserted
videos → post → media
UT Tyler President Dr. Julie Philley released a statement saying an individual had assaulted three people at the main campus. asserted
individual → release → campus
"Everyone has the right to free speech, and violence will not be tolerated at this university," she wrote, according to Chron. uncertain
she → have → Chron
Beverley Golden, the UT Tyler associate vice president for strategic communications and media relations, said Tomlian used to be a student at the university and now has a criminal trespass warning there. asserted
Tomlian → say → warning
Records at the Smith County Jail said Tomlian was booked on two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of assault causing bodily injury. asserted
Tomlian → say → injury
TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet provided a statement to Blaze News about the incident. asserted
Kolvet → provide → incident
"We’re so proud of how our students comported themselves. asserted
students → ’re → themselves
They stayed calm in the face of someone acting extremely erratically, and when this individual finally attacked, they quickly moved to subdue him until police could arrive," Kolvet said. uncertain
Kolvet → stay → him
"While we couldn’t be more proud of their actions, it’s disgusting that they have to experience this at all," he added. asserted
he → ’ → this
"We’re genuinely grateful to campus PD, who moved in quickly, and to President Dr. Julie Philley, who has been supportive and has a zero-tolerance policy for violence on campus, especially politically motivated violence." asserted
who → ’re → campus
TPUSA field representative Janae Jenson recalled the incident in an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Thursday. asserted
Jenson → recall → Thursday
"Our students face threats of violence and mean words all the time on the daily. asserted
students → face → daily
So, I mean, something like this is bound to happen eventually on campuses," she said. asserted
she → mean → campuses
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