A man who was arrested as he was trying to disarm a police officer at a Donald Trump rally in Las Vegas Saturday told authorities that he was planning on killing the presumptive GOP nominee.
A criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Nevada charges 19-year-old Michael Steven Sandford with an act of violence on restricted grounds.
According to the complaint, Sandford told officers that he drove to Nevada from California to kill Trump and even stopped by a Las Vegas gun range the day before, where he fired 20 rounds from a 9mm Glock pistol for the purpose of learning how to use it.
At the Trump rally at the Treasure Island Casino on Saturday, Sandford approached a Las Vegas police officer to say that he wanted an autograph from Trump. Sandford told authorities that he targeted that specific officer because he believed he saw the officer’s holster in an unlocked position. He then grabbed the handle of the officer’s gun in an attempt to remove it.
Sandford also told police that if he were on the street tomorrow, he would try this again.
The man also said that he had been planning to attempt to kill the candidate for more than a year “but decided to act on this occasion because he finally felt confident about trying it.”
The document also states that Sandford agreed to speak with investigators and waive his Miranda rights.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.