LOS ANGELES, CA—SEPT. 16, 2023—An armed man carrying a loaded pistol presenting himself as a federal law enforcement officer appeared at a side entrance to the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles Friday night where Democratic Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was soon to give a speech for Hispanic Heritage Month.

The man claimed to be part of Kennedy's security team and told RFK, Jr.'s actual protectors with urgency that he needed to be taken to the candidate immediately. Observing that the man had a handgun, Kennedy’s security team removed the man from the area, isolated, and surrounded him, and notified LAPD. Nobody was harmed in the incident.

LAPD also took custody of a second man, who came to the campaign event with the primary suspect. Protectors observed that the man seeking access to the event had a backpack, found to contain at least one other handgun, multiple knives, and extra ammunition.

The security imposter, who was wearing sunglasses, appeared to have laid his plans in advance, as he was carrying what appeared to be a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and beltclip federal ID. The Kennedy campaign is seeking additional information from law enforcement authorities.

Posting about the incident on X later that evening, Kennedy expressed his gratitude to his security detail and the LAPD for their swift response.

“I’m still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection,” he added.

Unlike many other high-profile candidates who were given Secret Service protection more than a year before the general election, Kennedy’s applications, one filed in May and another in August, have both been rejected. The campaign plans to apply a third time this month.

Learn more at Kennedy24.com. Visit our press page here.

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