A British man was detained after attempting to seize a gun from an officer at a Las Vegas rally in order to kill Donald Trump on Saturday. Michael Steven Sandford, approached a Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer who was stationed at the event to get Donald Trump's autograph. Without a warning, he grabbed the officer's firearm from his hip, authorities said on Monday.
He was charged with an act of violence in a restricted area. He said he had been planning to kill Donald Trump for about a year but only when he finally felt confident enough and decided to act on it. He was expecting to be killed during the attempt on Mr. Trump's life and that he would only be able to fire once or twice, BBC News reported.
According to the court papers, Sandford went to a gun range called Battlefield Vegas on 17 June in order to learn how to shoot. There he had the first time to fire a gun using a Glock 9mm pistol and fired 20 rounds. Then he drove to Las Vegas from California to do the deed, as per The Guardian.
MORE: The 20yo who said he wanted to shoot Donald Trump is charged with an act of violence "on restricted grounds". pic.twitter.com/1FUCuADafz
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Sandford told authorities that if he were able to escape, he would try it again. In fact, he already booked tickets for a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona and would have tried to kill Trump there again. He claimed he had lived in the US for almost a year and a half, originally to see a girlfriend.
The 20-year-old Briton appeared in court on Monday in handcuffs before a judge in Nevada but did not enter a plea that a danger and risk of non-appearance and was ordered that he be held in custody without bail until his preliminary hearing on the 5th of July. It is confiirmed that Sandford is a British citizen, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Justice.
Investigation showed he has been living in the US illegally, unemployed and living out of his car. He had autism and had attempted suicide, said a federal public defender.
