A man was arrested Saturday outside a President Trump rally in Riverside County on suspicion of possessing an illegal handgun, a handgun and a high-powered magazine, sheriff’s officials said.
Vem Miller, 49, of Las Vegas was booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center in Indio on charges of possession of a loaded firearm, Riverside County sheriff’s officials said. He was released on bail pending a court appearance.
Deputies found the guns after searching Miller’s black SUV at a checkpoint at Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive in Coachella around 5 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.
At a news conference Sunday, Sheriff Chad Bianco said his deputies had foiled the assassination attempt, though he acknowledged that “there’s no way any of us will really know what’s inside.” [the suspect’s] head.”
According to Bianco, Miller had driven his SUV into an outlying area guarded by sheriff’s deputies before being questioned at a checkpoint near the rally’s entrance. Miller said he had credentials to attend the meeting both as a reporter and as a VIP guest, but he could not produce the documents.
A deputy questioning Miller noticed what Bianco called “multiple things wrong” with his SUV: The license plate was fake, the vehicle was unregistered and the interior was “ruined,” the officer said.
When the SUV was searched, fake passports and driver’s licenses with different names, guns and ammunition were found, said Bianco.
Bianco said he referred to the suspect as Miller “with a star” because he has many names. The suspect identified his name as Vem Miller, according to the police officer.
The homemade license plate was “a symbol of people who claim to be self-governing citizens,” Bianco said, referring to the idea that its followers do not consider government authorities legitimate. Bianco called it inappropriate for so many private citizens to subscribe to far-fetched beliefs.
“He was crazy,” said the officer.
Asked if he was speculating by calling Miller a murderer, Bianco said it was “reasonable” to suspect that a person carrying guns and fake things at a political rally intended to harm people.
“We know we prevented something bad from happening,” said the sheriff, who attended Trump’s rally himself. “It doesn’t matter how bad it would have been.”
Bianco said the investigation into Miller’s intentions will be handled by the US Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a statement Sunday afternoon, the US Attorney’s office in Los Angeles said prosecutors and agents from the Secret Service and the FBI are investigating.
Trump narrowly avoided an assassination attempt in July at a rally in Butler, Pa. A bullet grazed his ear before assailants given his Secret Service information killed the gunman, Thomas Crooks, who had opened fire on the roof of a nearby building. One who attended the meeting, Corey Comperatore, was killed protecting his family from gunfire.
In September, police arrested a man near Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla. They suspect that Ryan Routh intended to shoot the former president with an SKS rifle while hiding in a tree near the golf club.
Prosecutors said Routh had a handwritten list of dates and places where Trump was expected to appear.
Routh is charged with attempted murder of a presidential candidate, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assault on a public official, possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon and possession of a firearm with a disabled telephone number.
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