A British man accused of trying to take a police officer’s gun and kill Donald Trump during a rally in Las Vegas will not be released on bail.
US Federal Magistrate Judge George Foley said at a hearing on Monday that Michael Steven Sandford, 20, was a potential danger to the community and a flight risk. Sandford, who wore leg irons and appeared to tremble during the court hearing, is charged with an act of violence on restricted grounds and was assigned a federal public defender.
He has not entered a plea.
Public defender Heather Fraley said Sandford appeared to be competent and hadn’t been diagnosed with a mental illness but that he has autism and previously attempted suicide. He was living out of his car, didn’t have a job and was in the country illegally after overstaying a visa.
His mother told court researchers that he was treated for obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia when he was younger, and that he once was went missing from a hospital in England, according to the public defender.
Secret Service agents said Sandford went to a Trump rally on Saturday at the Treasure Island Casino and approached a Las Vegas police officer to say he wanted an autograph from Trump.
The criminal complaint said Sandford was arrested after grabbing the handle of an officer’s gun in an attempt to remove it from a holster.