A man was arrested Saturday outside former President Trump's rally in Riverside County on suspicion of illegally possessing a shotgun, a handgun and a high-capacity 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 loaded firearms, Riverside County sheriff's officials said. He has since been released on bail pending a court appearance.
Officers found the weapons after searching Miller's black pickup truck at a checkpoint at Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive in Coachella around 5 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.
At a news conference Sunday, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said his deputies had likely thwarted an assassination attempt, although he acknowledged that “there is absolutely no way for any of us to really know what's going on.” [the suspect’s] head.”
According to Bianco, Miller had driven his SUV through an outer perimeter maintained by sheriff's deputies before being questioned at a checkpoint closer to the rally entrance. Miller claimed to have credentials to attend the rally as a journalist and VIP guest, but was unable to present any documents.
The deputy who questioned Miller noticed what Bianco called “many irregularities” with his SUV: The license plate was fake, the vehicle was unregistered and the interior was “in disarray,” the sheriff said.
A search of the van revealed fake passports and driver's licenses with different names, weapons and ammunition, Bianco said.
Bianco said he was identifying the suspect as Miller “with an asterisk” because he had identification with multiple names. The suspect said his name was Vem Miller, according to the sheriff.
The homemade license plates were “indicative of individuals claiming to be sovereign citizens,” Bianco said, referring to an ideology whose followers do not consider government authorities legitimate. Bianco called it irrelevant that the majority of sovereign citizens subscribe to far-right beliefs.
“He was a lunatic,” the sheriff said.
When asked if he was speculating by calling Miller a possible killer, Bianco said it was “common sense” to suspect that someone carrying weapons and fake identification to a political rally intended to hurt people.
“We know we stopped something bad from happening,” said the sheriff, who personally attended the Trump rally. “It is irrelevant what that evil was going to be.”
Bianco said the investigation into Miller's intentions would be conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In a statement Sunday afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles said prosecutors and agents from the Secret Service and the FBI were investigating.
Trump narrowly avoided an assassination attempt in July at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A bullet grazed his ear before snipers assigned to his secret service killed the gunman, Thomas Crooks, who had opened fire from the roof of a nearby building. One protest attendee, Corey Comperatore, died protecting his family from gunfire.
In September, police arrested a man near Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. They suspect Ryan Routh intended to shoot the former president with an SKS rifle while he hid in the bushes bordering the golf club.
Prosecutors say Routh possessed a handwritten list of dates and places where Trump was expected to appear.
Routh is charged with attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime, assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon, and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
