--- title: Donald Trump: Man Arrested at Rally Wanted to Kill Trump description: The man was arrested after trying to remove a police officer's gun from his holster. He says he intended to kill the Republican candidate. canonical: https://time.com/4375644/donald-trump-rally-man-arrested-kill/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-20T21:06:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:02.103Z article:section: Politics og:title: Man Arrested at Rally Says He Wanted to Kill Donald Trump og:description: The man tried to seize a Las Vegas police officer's gun og:url: https://time.com/4375644/donald-trump-rally-man-arrested-kill/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d07a84bdf8f51f1/698898aa8e060159a44665f6/donald-trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Phoenix, Arizona og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man Arrested at Rally Says He Wanted to Kill Donald Trump twitter:description: The man tried to seize a Las Vegas police officer's gun twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d07a84bdf8f51f1/698898aa8e060159a44665f6/donald-trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Man Arrested at Rally Says He Wanted to Kill Donald Trump by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 20, 2016 9:06 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters during a campaign rally on June 18, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to a crowd of supporters during a campaign rally on June 18, 2016 in Phoenix, Arizona.Ralph Freso—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jun 20, 2016 9:06 PM UTC A man who was arrested at a [Donald Trump](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/man-trump-rally-nv-threat) rally after trying to remove a police officer’s gun from his holster says he intended to kill the presumptive Republican nominee. Michael Steven Sandford told officers he had driven from California to Las Vegas for the event, and that he’d visited a shooting range earlier to practice, the Associated Press reports. He said it had been his intention to shoot [Trump](http://time.com/4374212/donald-trump-racial-profiling-muslims/) on Saturday at the event at Treasure Island Casino. On Monday, a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Nevada charged him with an act of violence on restricted grounds. The AP says it’s not clear whether Sandford has an attorney. \[[AP](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/man-trump-rally-nv-threat)\] Donald Trump: Man Arrested at Rally Wanted to Kill Trump ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4375644/donald-trump-rally-man-arrested-kill/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4375644/donald-trump-rally-man-arrested-kill/"},"headline":"Man Arrested at Rally Says He Wanted to Kill Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-06-20T21:06:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:02.103Z","description":"The man tried to seize a Las Vegas police officer's gun","url":"https://time.com/4375644/donald-trump-rally-man-arrested-kill/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d07a84bdf8f51f1/698898aa8e060159a44665f6/donald-trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d07a84bdf8f51f1/698898aa8e060159a44665f6/donald-trump1.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Phoenix, Arizona","caption":"Donald Trump Holds Campaign Rally In Phoenix, Arizona","creditText":"Ralph Freso—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4375644/donald-trump-rally-man-arrested-kill/","name":"Man Arrested at Rally Says He Wanted to Kill Donald Trump"}}]}] ```