A homeless teenager was arrested on Saturday in Las Vegas at a rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump for stealing a police officer’s gun and attempting to shoot Trump. Michael Sanford, 19, was subdued and arrested by Las Vegas police after he attempted to steal a pistol out of the holster of one of the Las Vegas police officers.
Sanford, who is from England, had been living out of his car in California because his visa had expired, decided to drive to Las Vegas in an attempt to kill Trump. At the campaign rally he had initiated a conversation with a Las Vegas police officer and then attempted to grab his gun from the holster. Sanford later admitted to the police that he had driven from California explicitly to try and kill Trump.
Sanford also told police that if they were to let him go, he would try and kill Trump again. In fact, he told police, he had been looking for a way to kill Trump for over a year. He made his move in Las Vegas, he said, because he believed he had finally worked up the courage he needed to attempt it.
He was in court on Monday but it has not been reported if he has a lawyer or if he entered an initial plea. He told police that if he failed, or if his courage gave out, in Las Vegas, that he would have traveled to Phoenix to attempt the murder there. Sanford’s criminal charges were brought by the Secret Service. They charged Sanford with a pair of federal offenses although it is not clear if attempted murder was among them. If Sanford gets convicted, he could be looking at at least a decade in prison.
Trump campaign rallies have been known to be rowdy and even violent. This is not the first time that there has been a violent incident at a Trump for President rally. A few months back, in Ohio, the Secret Service was forced into action when a man charged the stage in an attempt to get to Trump.
PHOTO CREDIT: Court sketch via CNN