06.21.16
The British mom and dad of Michael Steven Sandford say they begged the U.S. to help bring their son home. The authorities refused to intervene until the Secret Service arrested him.
LONDON — The parents of a young British man who allegedly tried to shoot Donald Trump say they had contacted the U.S. authorities asking for help to bring their vulnerable boy home before he was arrested at a campaign rally in Las Vegas.
Michael Steven Sandford, 20, appeared in court in leg irons on Monday. He faces up to 10 years in prison after allegedly confessing to a Secret Service agent that he had plotted to assassinate the presumptive Republican nominee.
He was arrested after making a grab for a cop’s weapon at a campaign rally at the Treasure Island casino in Las Vegas on Saturday. He allegedly approached the police officer and asked about obtaining an autograph from Trump before reaching out with both hands and trying to pull the gun from the officer’s holster.
The Secret Service agent who questioned Sandford said he confessed that he drove to Vegas from Hoboken, New Jersey, where he was living in his black BMW, with the clear intention of killing Trump. Sandford arrived in Vegas on June 16 and went to a shooting range the following day for his first ever lesson on firing a gun.
According to the agent, after firing 20 rounds from a 9mm Glock pistol, Sandford decided he was ready to make his assassination attempt the following day.
When asked why he tried to grab the gun on Saturday, Sandford allegedly told the Secret Service agent: “To shoot and kill Trump.”
The agent also alleges that Sandford said he would try again to kill Trump if he were released from custody. He also had a ticket to Trump’s next rally in Phoenix. On Friday, a man carrying a gun was arrested at another Trump rally, in Texas.
Sandford, who grew up in the suburbs of Surrey, close to London, reportedly said he had been in the U.S. for 18 months after overstaying his visa.
His parents were begging him to come home, and grew increasingly concerned over the last three months. His father told local Portsmouth paper The News that he had recently become "upset" but they didn't know why because his Asperger's syndrome made it very hard to express his emotions.
“He's been refusing to come back and we were worried about him, we were in contact with the American Embassy telling them we were worried about him. The American authorities said, 'He's over 18 we can't do anything,’” said Michael Davey, who split from Sandford’s mother when the boy was four.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/21/michael-steven-sandford-a-british-immigrant-allegedly-confessed-that-he-tried-to-kill-trump.html
