Man arrested at Trump rally says he wanted to kill candidate
France24 via Reuters
A man arrested over the weekend trying to wrestle a gun from a police officer, at a rally for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, told an investigator that he wanted to kill the candidate, court papers showed on Monday.
Michael Steven Sandford, 19, was arrested on Saturday at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas after trying to disarm the officer, according to Las Vegas police, who said he had been handed over to the US Secret Service.
According to court papers filed on Monday in federal court in Nevada, Sandford told a Secret Service agent that he had driven to Las Vegas from California with the goal of shooting Trump.
He was charged with committing an act of violence on restricted ground and was due in federal court in Nevada on Monday afternoon, Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the US Attorney’s Office, said in an email.
It was not immediately clear if Sandford had an attorney.
Sandford had a British driver’s license and claimed to have been in the United States for a year and a half, the documents showed. They did not specify his nationality but said he had lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, after coming to the United States.
“Sandford 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 court papers.
(REUTERS)
http://www.france24.com/en/20160621-man-arrested-trump-rally-says-he-wanted-kill-candidate-las-vegasDonald Trump at the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas on Saturday
British man tried to take officer’s gun to kill Trump at Las Vegas rally, police say
Guardian
Michael Sandford, who had a UK driver’s license, was arrested after grabbing at the holster and handle of a gun at the hip of an officer providing security
A British man has been charged with attempting to seize a police officer’s gun at a Las Vegas rally in order to commit an act of violence against Donald Trump, authorities said on Monday.
Michael Steven Sandford was arrested at the Saturday rally after grabbing at the holster and handle of a gun at the hip of a Las Vegas police officer who was providing security at the event for the presumptive Republican nominee.
A spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We are providing assistance following the arrest of a British national in Las Vegas.” British authorities are understood to have become involved on Sunday.
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”.
Sandford allegedly told a US agent, referred to in the complaint as special agent Swierkowski, that he had driven to Las Vegas from California in order to kill the presumptive Republican nominee for president.
According to the complaint, Sandford had gone to a gun range called Battlefield Vegas on 17 June in order to learn how to shoot. There, he fired 20 rounds from a Glock 9mm pistol, which, the complaint says, was the first time he had ever fired a gun.
The document also states that Sandford told Swierkowski that if he were on the street tomorrow, he would try it again. He claimed he had lived in the US for approximately a year and a half and had been planning to attempt to kill Trump for about a year but finally felt confident enough to try it on Saturday, according to Swierkowski’s report.
He also told Swierkowski that he had tickets for a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona, later that day, and planned to try to kill Trump there as well.
He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before a federal magistrate judge Monday at 3pm PST.
