A 49-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested near former President Donald Trump's rally in Coachella with a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine, officials say.

A 49-year-old Las Vegas man was arrested near former President Donald Trump’s rally in Coachella on Saturday with a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said Sunday.

Deputies assigned to the rally contacted the driver of a black SUV at a checkpoint near the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive just before 5 p.m. Saturday, sheriff’s officials said.

They allegedly found the driver in possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine. The driver was identified as Vem Miller, and was taken into custody and later booked at the John J. Benoit Detention Center on suspicion of possessing a loaded firearm and possessing a high-capacity magazine.

  • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    106·
    1 month ago

    Local outlets say that Miller is a registered Republican. He has a master’s degree from UCLA and campaigned for Nevada’s state assembly in 2022, but lost in the primary election, according to local daily newspaper The Press-Enterprise.

    Bianco said he is part of a right-leaning anti-government group and considers himself a sovereign citizen, someone who does not believe they are subject to government laws unless they agree to them.

    https://www.newsweek.com/who-vem-miller-man-arrested-loaded-gun-outside-trump-rally-1968341

    I’m more amused than I really should be about how they are eating their own now. Unless I’m misremembering, none of the three have been lefties of any stripe.

    • cmbabul@lemmy.world
      53·
      1 month ago

      I don’t want to give any sovcits any credit at all but trumps recent rhetoric is so openly authoritarian that some of them might have actually realized the face eating leopard is a threat to them too

      Edit: I can’t believe I just thought of this, but these could also be folks that hopes to start a civil war because they either believe it’s inevitable, are obsessed with the Turner Diaries, or both.

      • otp@sh.itjust.works
        87·
        1 month ago

        I thought that one kid was a registered Republican, but his political beliefs were unknown. He also donated to some left-wing group, didn’t he?

        • tootoughtoremember@lemmy.world
          11·
          1 month ago

          His motives are still “under investigation”.

          His political activities include social media comments that “appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes” and “espouse political violence”. Pretty shit political beliefs, if you want to call them that.

          • skulblaka@sh.itjust.works
            2·
            1 month ago

            include social media comments that “appear to reflect antisemitic and anti-immigration themes” and “espouse political violence”

            Throw a dart at a board full of conservative voters and you’ll hit one with these same types of social media comments in their history. All this tells me is “he was a conservative that spoke online”.