LAS VEGAS — A 19-year-old man has been arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas who tried to grab a police officer’s gun so that he could kill the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said the authorities on Monday.
The officer said Michael Steven Sandford attempted to take his gun while he was providing security at the event, with the intention of shooting Donald Trump.
According to a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, who also confirmed that Sandford is a British citizen said that the federal magistrate found that Sandford was “a danger to the community and a risk of non-appearance” and ordered that he be held without bail.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are providing assistance following the arrest of a British national in Las Vegas.”
The complaint, which was filed on Monday in the US district court for Nevada, says Sandford “knowingly attempted to engage in an act of physical violence against Donald J Trump by attempting to seize a firearm from Las Vegas Metropolitan Department Officer”.
The complaint added. “Sandford acknowledged that he would likely only be able to fire one to two rounds and stated he was convinced he would be killed by law enforcement during his attempt on Trump’s life.”
It said that Mr Sandford told investigators that he had purchased tickets for a rally in Phoenix where he “would try again to kill Trump” in the event his plan in Las Vegas failed.
The court papers said. “Sanford claimed he had been attempting to kill Trump for about a year but decided to act on this occasion because he finally felt confident about trying it.”
According to the complaint. “Sandford further stated that if he were on the street tomorrow, he would try this again.”