An entry in a Westmoreland County Halloween parade Wednesday that depicted a sniper with a gun on top of a golf cart and a person tied to the cart, apparently dressed as Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, sparked outrage from some community members.

The mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Diane Bailey, said entering the neighborhood’s annual parade was nerve-wracking and upsetting. She attended the event Wednesday night and said Thursday she had received numerous complaints from residents and officials who were horrified by the display.

“It had no place in any parade of any kind in this country,” she said.

The parade was organized by the Mt. Volunteer Fire Department. Pleasant. Held the night before Halloween on Main Street, there were all the typical entries – fire trucks, Boy Scouts, high school football players and dance groups. Multiple messages left with the fire chief were not returned Thursday.

Photos posted on social media showed what appeared to be a long gun sitting on a tripod atop the roof of a golf cart. In the back of the golf cart were two people, one of whom was dressed as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. On the front of the cart hung a sign in support of the former president.

People dressed in dark suits and sunglasses walked next to the cart, dressed as Secret Service agents. Behind the cart was a person wearing a red pantsuit that appeared to be Harris. That person was handcuffed and tied to the back of the cart with a chain or rope.

“When I first saw it, I was kind of confused,” Bailey said. “It took me maybe another 30 seconds or so to think, ‘Wow, that should have been Harris behind the golf cart.’

District resident Josh Huff said at first he attributed the display to the disputed presidential election. But then he saw what appeared to be someone portraying Harris behind the golf cart.

“I couldn’t believe this was allowed to come onto the high street of my town,” he said, describing it as “a shocking display of hate.”

Some parade-goers around him looked shocked, while others screamed in support of the performance, Huff said.

“It’s too much, this definitely shouldn’t be in a children’s parade,” he said.

Westmoreland County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Michelle McFall said the parade entry raised a lot of questions about how the group participated in the event.

“Regardless of who was responsible… it is the job of an organization to responsibly vet an entry and at the very least this is deeply disappointing, at most it is an utter failure of the organization to act in good faith at a community event she said.

“This evokes the kind of hatred and violence in this particular culture that we all push back against,” she said. “This doesn’t cool things down.”

Children attending or participating in a community event should not be exposed to such a display, she said.

“A community parade should not be politicized,” she said.

McFall tries to get more information about the situation. Mt. Pleasant Borough is not far from where a former Democratic candidate for Westmoreland County Commissioner was attacked on Election Day 2021. She was campaigning at a polling station in East Huntingdon when she confronted a man who was yelling an expletive-laden expletive against President Joe Biden, according to court records.

Huff said he left his hometown after college and returned about nine years ago.

“This is not the community I was raised in,” he said.

Bailey said he plans to meet with council and city officials to see if there is anything the neighborhood can do to try to prevent similar displays in future events.

“He is not welcome in Mt. Pleasant,” she said. “I’d like to think we have a community that sets higher moral standards.”