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 and was stopped by deputies assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said at a news conference.
Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Calhoun Ranch in Coachella, California, on Saturday.Credit: AP
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 his earlier remark about a foiled assassination plot on Trump’s life, he said: “I really do believe we avoided an assassination attempt.”
The arrested 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, Bianco said. The case 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.
Bill Melugin, a Fox News correspondent, posted on X that sources close to the Trump campaign told him there was no assassination attempt.
The Trump X account posted a video from the rally, saying it was a “beautiful evening in Coachella, California last night. Thank you!”