LOS ANGELES, California — An armed man was detained by security and later arrested by police before the start of an event with Democratic presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday evening with the Hispanic community in Los Angeles.
According to sources, the man arrived at the event and claimed to be employed by the organizers. Campaign security officials, however, did not recognize him, and detained him until police arrived.
The man was found to be carrying a handgun and ammunition. He will likely face charges of impersonating a police officer or federal agent, and possibly unlawful possession of firearms, according to Breitbart News sources.
The Kennedy campaign is sensitive to security concerns, given the tragic history of the Kennedy family. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — the current candidate’s father — was assassinated in 1968 in Los Angeles, shortly after winning the California Democratic presidential primary.
In July, Kennedy noted that the Biden administration had denied him Secret Service protection, despite the fact that he had requested it from the Department of Homeland Security, and had extensively documented the need for it.
Kennedy is gaining on President Joe Biden in some polls, though he still trails overall by a wide margin. Many Democrats say they would like to vote for a candidate other than the incumbent.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
