LOS ANGELES. —
A Nevada man with a shotgun, a loaded handgun, ammunition and several fake passports in his vehicle was detained Saturday night at a checkpoint outside a Donald Trump rally in Southern California, authorities said. The person was released that same day after paying bail of $5,000.
The suspect, a 49-year-old Las Vegas resident, was driving a black van with a “homemade” license plate and was detained by agents assigned to security for the event in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, the police reported. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at a news conference Sunday afternoon.
Undated photo of Vem Miller, 49, of Las Vegas, who was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on suspicion of possession of loaded firearms, Riverside County sheriff’s officials said. He has since been released on bail pending a court appearance.
(Comes Miller)
The driver claimed he was a journalist, but it is unknown if he had the appropriate accreditations. The agents saw that the interior of the vehicle was “disordered,” and upon searching it they discovered the weapons and ammunition, as well as passports and driver’s licenses with different names, Bianco said.
The man was arrested on suspicion of possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a high-capacity magazine, the agency said in a statement.
“The incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or those attending the event,” said the statement released on Saturday. The Republican presidential candidate had not yet arrived at the rally at the time of the arrest, Bianco said Sunday.
The suspect has a hearing scheduled for Jan. 2, 2025, according to online court records.
Bianco declined to speculate on the suspect’s motives or mental state. “We know that we prevented something bad from happening, and whatever it was, it is irrelevant,” he said.
The individual passed the first external security filter and was detained in the interior perimeter, which was guarded by county police officers, Bianco said. The Secret Service was manning another checkpoint, located closer to the event.
“According to the assessment of the United States Secret Service, the incident did not affect protective operations and former President Trump was never in danger,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement released Sunday. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation continues.”
Members of the media, as well as attendees with VIP tickets, were escorted through several intersections manned by local and state police before being able to reach a large grassy area, where drivers were asked to open the hood and trunk of their vehicles. Each car was inspected by an agent and a trained dog. Attendees with general tickets were sent to a site located almost 5 kilometers (3 miles) away from the event site, from where they boarded buses to reach the rally.
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrest.
Security is extremely tight at Trump’s campaign events after two recent assassination attempts against him. Last month, a man was formally charged with attempted murder after authorities say he stalked the former president for 12 hours and wrote about his desire to kill him. That arrest in Florida occurred two months after Trump was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
