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Friday, April 19, 2024 | Back issues
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Wannabe Donald Trump Shooter Denied Bail

LAS VEGAS (CN) — The British teenager accused of trying to kill Donald Trump was denied bail late Monday on a charge of committing an act of violence on restricted grounds.

A Secret Service agent filed an affidavit describing the arrest of Michael Sandford, who tried to wrest a gun from a policeman to shoot Trump on Saturday at a Las Vegas rally.

Sandford, 19, tried to take a gun from Las Vegas Metro police Officer Ameel Jacob's holster during the event at the Treasure Island Casino, Secret Service Agent Joseph Hall wrote in his one-count federal complaint.

Sandford could not bring a gun into the meeting because he had to pass through a Secret Service metal detector. Sandford, a British citizen who has lived in the United States for one and a half years, told the Secret Service after he was arrested that he had never fired a gun until the day before the rally, when he went to a shooting range and took 20 shots with a Glock.

Hall wrote in his affidavit that Sandford told Secret Service Agent Swierkowski "that he made a conscious decision to come to Las Vegas to kill Trump."

"Sandford further stated that if he were on the street tomorrow, he would try this again," Hall wrote in the June 20 affidavit.

He said Swierkowski gave Sandford a Secret Service Miranda Warning form, which Sandford read "and signed it agreeing to speak with us and waive his Miranda rights."

Sandford then interviewed him in Swierkowski's presence. Hall asked why he had tried to take Officer's Jacob's gun, and "Sandford replied, 'To shoot and kill Trump,'" according to the affidavit.

Sandford said he expected he would be killed in the attempt.

"When asked what he would have done had he not made an attempt on Trump's life at this event, Sandford states that he had booked tickets for a Trump political rally in Phoenix, Az. and would try again there to kill Trump," Hall wrote.

Hall then watched security video showing Sandford trying to take the officer's gun at 11:35 a.m. that Saturday.

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