Trump suspect denied bail
LAS VEGAS — A British man arrested at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas tried to grab a police officer’s gun so he could kill the presidential candidate after planning an assassination for about a year, authorities said.
Michael Steven Sandford, 20, approached an officer at the campaign stop last weekend to say he wanted Trump’s autograph but then tried to take the weapon, U.S. Secret Service agents said.
A criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Nevada charges Sandford with an act of violence on restricted grounds. He has been denied bail and has not entered a plea yet.
His court-appointed attorney said he was living out of his car and was in the country illegally after overstaying a visa.
Donald Trump’s son praised local authorities and the Secret Service for stopping the attempted attack, though he didn’t say if there would be any security changes in the campaign. “I think you can only plan for so much,” Donald Trump Jr. said Tuesday on “Good Morning America.” “You can’t plan for every scenario, and I think (law enforcement) do try to do whatever they can to prevent those things, and I think they will, but I think this is an unusual circumstance.”
The arrest happened relatively quietly at a campaign stop seen as peaceful compared with the mayhem at the presumptive Republican nominee’s recent events in San Jose and Albuquerque. Sandford grabbed the handle of an officer’s gun while trying to remove it from a holster, the criminal complaint said. Those attending Saturday’s rally at the Treasure Island casino on the Las Vegas Strip passed through metal detectors manned by Secret Service, police and casino security officials.
Sandford told officers he was convinced he would die in the assassination attempt. He said he also reserved a ticket for a Trump rally in Phoenix, scheduled for later Saturday, as a backup plan.
Authorities said Sandford told them he had been in the U.S. for about a year and a half, lived in Hoboken, N.J., and drove to the San Bernardino, Calif., area before coming to Las Vegas on Thursday.
He said he went to a Vegas shooting range the day before the rally and fired a 9 mm Glock pistol to learn how to use it. Detectives who visited the range spoke with an employee who confirmed that he provided shooting lessons.
