A 20-year-old British man tried to steal a police officer’s gun and kill presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a rally in Las Vegas over the weekend, according to a federal complaint filed Monday.
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Police remove protestor Michael Steven Sandford as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Treasure Island hotel and casino in Las Vegas, on June 18, 2016.
Police said Michael Sandford, a Briton, struck up a conversation with a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer under the pretense that he was seeking to get an autograph.
Seeing the officer’s gun in an unlocked position, Sandford was able to grab the gun’s handle with both hands, the complaint noted.
Sandford told police that he drove from California – where he had been living in his auto for the past month – to Las Vegas to kill Trump.
“Sandford claimed he had been attempting to kill Trump for about a year but chose to act on this occasion because he finally “felt confident about trying it”, the court papers said”.
Trump is under U.S. Secret Service protection but local law enforcement often supplements them at campaign events.
But the attempt was thwarted and he was later charged with an act of violence on restricted grounds.
Court records said Sandford went to the Battlefield Vegas gun range last Friday to practice shooting, adding that he had never fired a gun before.
Donovan said he didn’t know about the charge against Sandford until he saw news reports.
Sandford has not entered a plea.
Fraley argued that Sandford should go to a halfway house because he didn’t have a criminal history, but the judge said he should stay in detention ahead of a July 5 court date.
Following the arrest, Sandford’s mother told court researchers he had been treated for obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia when he was younger, and that he once escaped from a hospital in England.
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Troubled Sanford told police that he had been planning to assassinate the former Apprentice star for a year and had also reserved a ticket for a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona. A federal public defender says he has autism and has attempted suicide.
