A Nevada man was caught at a security checkpoint outside Donald Trump’s rally in the Southern California desert Saturday night, authorities said. He was carrying a shotgun, a loaded revolver, ammo, and numerous bogus passports in his truck. He was released that same day on $5,000 bail.
The suspect, a 49-year-old Las Vegas resident, was driving an unregistered black SUV with a “homemade” license plate when he was stopped by police assigned to the rally in Coachella, east of Los Angeles, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said during a news conference Sunday afternoon.
The driver claimed to be a journalist, but it is uncertain whether he has the necessary credentials. Deputies noticed the interior of the vehicle was “in disarray,” and a search revealed the firearms and ammunition, as well as various passports and driver licenses with different identities, Bianco added.
The man was detained on charges of possessing a loaded pistol and a high-capacity magazine, according to a department statement.
“This incident had no bearing on the safety of former President Trump or event attendees,” according to the statement released on Saturday. The arrest occurred before Trump had arrived at the gathering, according to the sheriff.
The suspect is set to appear in court on January 2, 2025, according to internet documents.
Bianco declined to speculate on the suspect’s motivations or state of mind. “We know we prevented something bad from happening, and it was irrelevant what that bad was going to be,” Bianco told the reporter.
The suspect slipped past an outer security barrier and was apprehended at an inner perimeter controlled by the sheriff’s department, Bianco said. The Secret Service manned another security checkpoint closer to the rally venue.
“The US Secret Service assesses that the incident did not impact protective operations and that former President Trump was not in any danger,” the US Attorney’s Office stated in a statement Sunday. “While no federal arrest has been made at this time, the investigation is ongoing.”
Media and VIP ticket holders were led through a series of junctions manned by state and municipal law enforcement personnel before arriving at a vast, grassy area where drivers were required to open their hoods and trunks, and each vehicle was examined by a K-9 officer. Other general ticket holders were escorted to a location approximately three miles distant from the event, where they were loaded onto buses and taken there.
The Trump campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the arrest.
Security at Trump rallies is extremely tight following two recent assassination attempts. Last month, a man was charged with attempted assassination after investigators said he followed the former president for 12 hours and wrote about wanting to kill him. Trump was shot and wounded in the ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania two months before his arrest in Florida.