UCLA alumnus arrested for illegal possession of arms near Trump rally
Former president Donald Trump stands behind a podium at a rally. A UCLA alumnus was arrested Saturday for possession of illegal weapons under the suspicion of attempting to assassinate Trump at his campaign rally in Coachella, California. (Courtesy of Michael Vadon/Wikimedia Commons)
By Gabrielle Gillette
Oct. 13, 2024 2:30 p.m.
This post was updated Oct. 13 at 11:18 p.m.
A UCLA alumnus was arrested Saturday for a weapons violation outside a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump.
The man, Vem Miller, was found to be in illegal possession of a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a high-capacity magazine after being stopped at a checkpoint at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive in Coachella, California, according to a press release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told the Southern California News Group that he believed Miller planned to kill Trump, who had a rally scheduled there that day.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department set up a double perimeter, according to The Press-Enterprise, which controlled access within half a mile of the rally. Miller was caught at one of the checkpoints and taken to a jail in Indio, California.
“We probably stopped another assassination attempt,” Bianco said to the Southern California News Group.
Miller, 49, is a registered Republican living in Las Vegas and holds a bachelor’s degree in American literature from UCLA, having graduated in 1999. In 2022, Miller ran to represent District 13 in the Nevada state assembly but was unsuccessful.
His campaign ran on a platform of reclaiming constitutional freedoms, saying the country’s Second Amendment rights are under threat in a video during his Nevada Assembly District 13 campaign.
According to The Press-Enterprise, Bianco said Miller was known to be a part of the sovereign citizen movement, an anti-government group whose members consider themselves exempt from government statutes unless they consent to them.
Bianco also said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is questioning another man who was stopped at a checkpoint after being identified as potentially dangerous by bomb-detecting dogs, according to The Press-Enterprise.
The incident did not appear to affect the safety of Trump or attendees of the rally. Miller was released Saturday on $5,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court at the Indio Larson Justice Center on Jan. 2, 2025.
