An armed man impersonating a federal agent was arrested at an event in California where Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was speaking.
RFK Jr. was speaking at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday.
An armed man reportedly attempted to access the event, and identified himself as a member of Kennedy’s security detail.
“The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines was carrying a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and belt clip federal ID,” RFK Jr. wrote on the X social media platform.
RFK Jr. explained that “fast-acting protectors from Gavin de Becker and Associates (GDBA) spotted and detained an armed man who attempted to approach” him at the event. The security team held the suspect until officers with the Los Angeles Police Department arrived to arrest the armed man.
The suspect never brandished the gun or threatened anyone, police told KABC-TV.
ABC News reported, “He was taken to Wilshire Station where it was decided that LAPD would remain the lead agency. The suspect will ‘probably be booked on a gun charge,’ according to the station’s Watch Commander.”
The FBI has been notified.
Video shows the bearded man wearing boots and sunglasses being arrested by LAPD officers.
The scary incident occurred less than two miles from where the 69-year-old presidential hopeful’s father – Sen. Robert F. Kennedy – was assassinated on June 5, 1968, by Sirhan Sirhan, just hours after winning the Democratic California presidential primary. Robert F. Kennedy assassination happened at the former Ambassador Hotel, which was later developed as Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools after the hotel was demolished in 2005.
Following the alarming arrest, Kennedy Jr. called on President Joe Biden to furnish him with Secret Service protection.
“I’m still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection,” RFK Jr. wrote. “I am the first presidential candidate in history to whom the White House has denied a request for protection.”
According to the official Secret Service website:
Major presidential and vice presidential candidates and their spouses within 120 days of a general presidential election. As defined in statute, the term “major presidential and vice presidential candidates” means those individuals identified as such by the Secretary of Homeland Security after consultation with an advisory committee.
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