Briton charged over Trump rally

Michael Steven Sandford is arrested at the Las Vegas rally. Photo: Reuters
Michael Steven Sandford is arrested at the Las Vegas rally. Photo: Reuters

A grand jury in the United States has indicted a British man on weapons charges, alleging he tried to steal a gun from a policeman during a rally for Donald Trump.

Trump, a billionaire businessman and TV celebrity, is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for the election on November 8.

Michael Steven Sandford (20) of England, was charged with two felony counts of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm and one felony count of impeding and disrupting the orderly conduct of government business, the US Attorney's Office in Las Vegas said in a statement on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old's federal public defenders could not be immediately reached for comment. Sandford was scheduled to be arraigned on July 6, the attorney's office said.

Sandford was initially charged in a complaint filed in federal court on June 20 with an act of violence on restricted grounds over the June 18 incident at the Treasure Island casino hotel in Las Vegas.

The complaint said Sandford told a US Secret Service agent he had driven there from California with the goal of shooting Trump.

The indictment does not accuse Sandford of plotting to kill Trump.

According to the June 20 complaint, Sandford said he had been in the US for 18 months. Court records said he had lived in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Court records said Sandford went to the Battlefield Vegas gun range to practice shooting a day before the rally, and said he had never fired a gun before.

While there, he fired 20 rounds from a Glock 9mm handgun, the complaint said.

Sandford faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $US250,000 ($NZ351,000) on each charge in Wednesday's indictment, prosecutors said.