Javier Manjarres accuses Parkland father of exploiting child’s death

manjarres, javier

Republican congressional candidate Javier Manjarres on Friday accused a Parkland father of exploiting his child’s death.

Manjarres, known best in Florida political circles for his Shark Tank blog, started a Twitter squabble with Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was among 17 killed in the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting on Feb. 14.

“C’mon Fred. I can’t only imagine the pain you are feeling over the loss of your daughter, but stop exploiting her death in the name of some political agenda,” Manjarres tweeted. “Your daughter was shot by some lunatic who had an AR-15, not by the gun itself.”

Guttenberg previously criticized NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch for posting a meme on July 3 jokingly presenting pro-gun musician Kid Rock as a kind of Independence Day Santa Claus leaving fireworks to those who leave him beer and rifles.

“I would show this to my kid, but she is dead,” Guttenberg tweeted at Loesch. “She was shot by an AR 15 on Valentine’s Day. I am sure you meant for your tweet to be cute, but it is just another example of your inability to say or do the right thing.”

After Manjarres’ response, Guttenberg initially responded with a couple tweets about gun safety, then says he realized who Manjarres was. He then tweeted out a Sun-Sentinel article about the candidate’s 2016 attempted murder arrest after shooting up a Dodge Ram belonging to his sister’s boyfriend. Charges were later dropped.

This led to a lengthy exchange in which Manjarres said he had been accused of gun safety problems but that nobody had any proof those accusations were true. He also expressed support for fixing the existing background check system for guns and preventing “lunatics, domestic abusers” from obtaining any firearms.

“I’m truly sorry if my statement sounded insensitive to you and scratched at your loss,” Manjarres wrote to Guttenberg. “Again, we are all sorry for your loss, but you appear to be focusing on the gun, hence leaving many Americans to believe that you are exploiting it. That’s all. Let’s #Fixit.”

Manjarres is running as a Republican in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District in a primary against Nicolas Kimaz and Eddison Walters. The primary winner will likely face incumbent U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch if he beats Democratic challenger Jeff Fandl in the primary.

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


5 comments

  • Eddison Walters

    July 7, 2018 at 11:02 pm

    Is Violent Criminal Ex-Con Javier “Javi” Manjarres really the person Republicans want defending their 2nd Amendment Rights in Congress?

    Support Eddison Walters for U.S. Congress in Florida District 22. The Violent Criminal Ex-Con Javier “Javi” Manjarres for U.S. Congress is such a bad dream for Republicans in Florida District 22. In addition to being arrested for attempted murder, and driving into a mans apartment, breaking down his door and assaulting the man in his own home, Javier Manjarres has case involving violence filed against him by three different people. Broward Circuit Court show records these case which include violence have been with in the last 18 month;

    DVCE17000193 Yuliya Engle Petitioner vs. Javier Manjarres Respondent Stalking Violence 01-09-2017 Disposed;

    DVCE17004202 Wendy L Lutheran Petitioner vs. Javier Manjarres Respondent Dating Violence 05-31-2017 Disposed;

    DVCE18000217 Arturo Manjarres Petitioner vs. Javier Fabian Manjarres Respondent Domestic Violence 01-09-2018 Disposed;;

    Is this the person Republicans think should represent the party in November? Whatever happened to drain the swamp?

  • Morena

    July 8, 2018 at 2:31 pm

    what does DISPOSED means? Innocent of charges??

    • Eddison Walters for Congress

      July 10, 2018 at 8:46 am

      No, Disposed does not mean innocent. When the person who filed the is talked in withdrawing from the case or talked into not testifying in the case, it is difficult to move forward. Innocent is going to court and presenting all the evidence and a judge ruling the charges was not proven.

  • Eddison Walters for Congress

    July 10, 2018 at 9:06 am

    Where there is smoke, there is fire. People needs to look at the facts. Ex-con violent criminal Javier Manjarres plead guilty to breaking into a mans home and assaulting him, before his attempted murder charges about 24 months ago where he assaulted his sister’s boyfriend and shot in car full of bullet holes while his sister’s boyfriend was trying to leave. People also have to ask the question; Why are all the people accusing ex-con violent criminal of violence? Are all these people picking on him? It is really hard to believe there are no merits to so many cases in such a short period of time. His arrogance really has ex-con violent criminal Javier Manjarres believing he can explain all this away in just twisted little mind. Ex-con violent criminal Javier Manjarres is a violent sick person who couldn’t get elected dog catcher, but he has no clue how bad of a candidate he is because he can’t see past his ego.

  • Violent criminal Javier Manjarres claims to have conservative values, but he is not married, has kids with a woman, and is a womanizer.

    We are going to keep the pressure on the violent criminal ex-con Javier Manjarres who is unmarried and lives with a woman who he has a child with and another on the way any day, but also have 3 different cases file against him by 3 different people since 2017 for, stalking violence, dating violence, and domestic violence. Ask him why are all these different people filing these cases against him when he lives with a woman who he claims to be his girlfriend. Conservative values, what conservative values? Give me a break violent criminal ex-con Javier Manjarres. This guy can win an election for dog catcher, but I hate to insult dog catchers by talking about them in the same sentence with him. Support Eddison Walters for U.S. Congress – District 22. I don’t have to hide in the background to post my responses.

Comments are closed.


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