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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Brit Indicted in Plot to Kill Donald Trump

LAS VEGAS (CN) — A 21-member federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted British citizen Michael Steven Sandford on three felony counts stemming from a June 18 attempt on Donald Trump's life.

Sandford, 20, faces two counts of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and one count of impeding and disrupting government business or functions.

The man is in federal custody and faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. He is scheduled for arraignment and a plea hearing on July 6 at 3 p.m.

In the federal indictment, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden says Sandford possessed a Glock 9mm handgun "shipped and transported in interstate commerce."

Bogden also says Sandford tried to seize a police officer's Glock 9mm handgun. Bogden does not indicate whether the police officer's Glock is the same one Sandford is accused of possessing.

The U.S. attorney was not immediately available by telephone, but in an accompanying release says Sandford visited a Las Vegas gun range on June 17, where he took shooting lessons using a Glock 9mm handgun.

The next day, Bogden says Sandford attended a political rally for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump at the Mystere Theatre in the Treasure Island Casino.

While there, Bogden says Sandford "approached a uniformed LVMPD officer and attempted to seize the officer's Glock 9mm handgun by grabbing the holster and handle of the firearm with both hands in an attempt to remove it from the holster. "

The federal government's criminal complaint against Sandford says he intended to use the officer's pistol to kill Trump, and that he would try again if released from custody.

Sandford told a U.S. Secret Service agent that he has been in the United States for more than a year, lived in Hoboken, New Jersey, and traveled to California and Nevada so that he could kill Trump.

Sandford also said he had planned to attend a Trump rally in Phoenix on June 19.

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