Armed Man Pretending To Be US Marshal Arrested At RFK Jr. Event

A man carrying several firearms was arrested at an event for Democrat presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Los Angeles while posing as a U.S. Marshal, according to police.

Kennedy was scheduled to speak at a “Hispanic Heritage” event hosted at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles, California, on Friday. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Democrat presidential candidate revealed that a man had arrived at the venue identifying himself a member of the Kennedy security detail — and had even been equipped with a badge and federal ID, along with several firearms and extra ammo. Police later arrived at the scene and arrested the imposter.

“The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines was carrying a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and beltclip federal ID. He identified himself as a member of my security detail. Armed GDBA team members moved quickly to isolate and detain the man until LAPD arrived to make the arrest. I’m also grateful to LAPD for its rapid response,” Kennedy wrote in the post.

According to CBS News, the Los Angeles Police have confirmed that the man will likely be facing a gun charge — but police claim that they don’t believe the man was threatening anyone.

In response to the incident, Kennedy hopes that the Biden administration will reconsider their earlier decision to deny him Secret Service protection. Typically, Secret Service protection is afforded to “major” presidential candidates within 120 days of the general election — though special circumstances can be considered to provide protection outside that category.

“Since the assassination of my father in 1968, candidates for president are provided Secret Service protection. But not me,” Kennedy explained in a post on X back in July, adding: “Our campaign’s request included a 67-page report from the world’s leading protection firm, detailing unique and well established security and safety risks aside from commonplace death threats.”

He included a quote from Secretary of State Alejandro Mayorkas, which read: “I have determined that Secret Service protection for Robert F Kennedy Jr is not warranted at this time.”

As Kennedy noted in that post, his father Robert Kennedy was shot and killed by a gunman on June 5, 1968 — just a few miles away from where the campaign event was taking place on Friday.

In his Friday post, Kennedy noted that he was “still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection. I am the first presidential candidate in history to whom the White House has denied a request for protection.”