Coachella, California: A Nevada man with a shotgun, a loaded handgun and ammunition in his vehicle was arrested at a security checkpoint outside Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday night in the southern California desert, authorities said on Monday (AEDT).
The suspect, a 49-year-old resident of Las Vegas, was driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” licence plate that was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference.
The driver claimed to be a journalist but it was unclear if he had the proper credentials. Deputies noticed the interior of the vehicle was “in disarray” and a search uncovered the weapons and ammunition, along with multiple passports and driver licences with different names, Bianco said.
Bianco declined to speculate about the suspect’s motives or frame of mind. “We know we prevented something bad from happening, and it was irrelevant what that bad was going to be,” Bianco said but later, when pressed about an earlier remark about a foiled assassination plot on Trump’s life, he said: “I really do believe we avoided an assassination attempt.”
Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch in Coachella, California, on Saturday.Credit: AP
He said the man was a member of the Sovereign Citizens movement, a group that believes government, law enforcement and tax authorities should not interfere in people’s lives, and the matter had been handed to the FBI.
He also said it was up to federal investigators to prove if it was indeed a plot to kill Trump.
The sheriff said the man, identified as Vem Miller, was charged with possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
“This incident did not impact the safety of former president Trump or attendees of the event,” the sheriff’s department statement said in an earlier statement.
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