Police identify former student arrested for assaulting TPUSA in 'wizard outfit,' using 'prop cane'

Ciro Stephen Tomlian cursed at organizers, struck people with cane and tore down American flag, video shows.

Published: November 11, 2026 5:23pm

Police have identified the man dressed in a "wizard outfit" who was arrested Tuesday for using a "prop cane" to assault three members of Turning Point USA at the University of Texas in Tyler.

Nineteen-year-old Ciro Stephen Tomlian of Jacksonville is a former UT Tyler student, according to Associate Vice President Beverley Golden, KTLV said. He was charged with "two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault [that] causes bodily injury."

Frontlines TPUSA video captured Tomlian striking people with the cane and swinging it at others, tearing down an American flag from the TPUSA "Pick Up the Mic" event and swinging it in the face of an organizer, and calling them "fascist pieces of s**t" before campus police arrested him. He was booked into Smith County Jail.

UT Tyler President Julie Philley said Tomlian assaulted three people during the event, according to the Houston Chronicle. Campus police criminally trespassed him from campus.

"The First Amendment protects your right to speak, even to protest," Texas GOP congressman Nathaniel Moran said, sharing the video and thanking police for quick action. "It does not protect assaulting people you disagree with. Violence has no place on any campus, and it doesn’t represent East Texas."

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