A 19-year-old former student at the University of Texas at Tyler has been arrested and charged with felony assault after authorities say he tore down an American flag at a Turning Point USA booth on campus on Tuesday, November 10, and struck three people with a cane during the group's “Pick Up the Mic” open-discussion event. Smith County booking records identify the man as Ciro Stephen Tomlian, 19, of Jacksonville, Texas, and the university confirmed he is a former student who was not enrolled at the school at the time of the incident.

Source: Fox News Digital via Time Bulletin

Tomlian faces two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault causing bodily injury, according to the booking records reported on Wednesday. He remained in custody at the Smith County jail in Tyler as of Wednesday morning, and the university said he has been issued a criminal trespass warning barring him from university property. The charges are allegations: no finding of guilt has been made, and the case has not yet been heard in court.

What the video shows

The confrontation was filmed by Turning Point USA field representatives Alanna Kitchens and Lisette Ferguson, according to Turning Point USA Frontlines, and the footage was posted by the group the same day. In the video, a man wearing a cape and a round-brimmed hat — described in a second account as wearing a black hat, glasses and a short cape or cloak over a dark shirt, with a backpack — approaches the booth, rips down an American flag and tosses it aside, saying, according to that account, “Y'all don't deserve this.”

Source: Rico TV (reporting KLTV and Frontlines TPUSA)

Fox News Digital's account of the footage says the man then raised the cane in a threatening manner and shouted profanities at the students, grabbed the flag again and threw it over his shoulder, and gave the group the middle finger. A woman off camera told him to stay away; he raised the cane and took a checked swing in her direction. When a male voice told him, “No one's scared of you,” he swung the cane again, apparently striking the speaker, before someone else ran over and grabbed the cane. Campus police arrived moments later and placed him in handcuffs.

As he was led away in handcuffs, the man can be heard on the video painting the incident as self-defence, saying he was “backed into a corner,” apologising to an officer, and saying that “freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences,” according to the Fox News account of the recording. Turning Point's own Frontlines account said no injuries were reported, while one of the three charges filed is assault causing bodily injury — a difference between the group's social-media account and the booking record that the court process, not social media, will settle.

The university's response

In a statement, UT Tyler President Dr. Julie V. Philley confirmed that the attack took place at a Turning Point USA student event. “An individual, who is not a UT Tyler student, assaulted three people,” she said. “UT Tyler police responded immediately and arrested the individual.” She added: “Everyone has the right to free speech, and violence will not be tolerated at this university.” University Associate Vice President Beverley Golden and other officials likewise stated that the man is a former student who is not currently enrolled, according to the local reporting of the university's confirmation.

The university identified the three people assaulted as a Turning Point USA field representative and two students. The “Pick Up the Mic” gathering was organised by the local Turning Point USA chapter in an open-discussion format similar to the group's “Prove Me Wrong” sessions, and Preston Parsons of the Texas Tech University chapter took part, according to the account that drew on KLTV's local reporting.

Background: a campus movement still shadowed by its founder's assassination

Turning Point USA is the conservative student organisation founded by Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated at a Utah Valley University campus event last year, on September 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. The accused in that killing, Tyler Robinson, has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder. Since Kirk's death, the group's campus events have carried a sharper edge, and confrontations at its booths have repeatedly been filmed and posted by the group's own Frontlines wing — including, on Election Day this month, an incident in New Hampshire in which police arrested a 70-year-old poet who allegedly slapped a volunteer for Turning Point Action, an affiliated nonprofit, outside a polling place, an incident that also appeared on video.

Tyler is a city in Smith County in East Texas, and Jacksonville, the accused's hometown, is a smaller city in neighbouring Cherokee County, roughly half an hour to the south. The University of Texas at Tyler is part of the University of Texas System and draws students from across East Texas — including a significant number of first-generation and immigrant-background students, among them Punjabi and other South Asian students studying in Texas. For those families, the facts that matter in this case are the ones the university has put on the record: the violence was stopped within moments by campus police, the accused is barred from the property, and the university has stated publicly that violence will not be tolerated at its events, whichever organisation is holding them.

What happens next

Tomlian remains in the Smith County jail on the three charges, and his case now moves into the Smith County court process, where a first appearance, any bond decision and a possible grand-jury review of the aggravated-assault counts lie ahead. Neither the booking reports nor the university has published a bond amount or a first court date. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the court sets a date or when the university or Smith County authorities release further information.