Armed man posing as U.S. Marshal at Robert F. Kennedy Jr. event identified
Police arrested a man who was allegedly posing as a United States Marshal during a Hispanic Heritage Month event attended by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday in the Wilshire Park area.
Adrian Paul Aispuro, 44, was booked on a felony gun charge and was being held on $35,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Inmate Information Center.
Kennedy, 69, took to X, formerly known as Twitter shortly after the event ended, claiming that the man attempted to approach him at the event, held at the Wilshire Ebell Theater, where he gave a speech.
"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," Kennedy's tweet said. "He identified himself as a member of my security detail."
Members of Kennedy's security team, however, stopped him and detained the man until Los Angeles Police Department could arrive, according to the tweet.
I’m very grateful that alert and fast-acting protectors from Gavin de Becker and Associates (GDBA) spotted and detained an armed man who attempted to approach me at my Hispanic Heritage speech at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles tonight. The man, wearing two shoulder… pic.twitter.com/vvJc0Gtk4o
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) September 16, 2023
LAPD says that they took the man into custody at the event as he was trying to pass himself off as a federal official.
They also say that the man wasn't believed to be threatening RFK Jr. or anyone else, but that he was armed. They did not provide further information on the type of firearm he was carrying.
In his tweet, Kennedy said that he is "still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow" him protection from a Secret Service detail.
"I am the first presidential candidate in history to whom the White House has denied a request for protection," his tweet said.
However, CNN refutes that claim saying that "the vast majority of candidates in modern presidential primaries never receive Secret Service protection because they are not deemed 'major' candidates — and it would be nearly unprecedented for even a major candidate to receive protection this early in a campaign if they did not already have it on account of currently or previously serving in the White House."
Kennedy Jr. is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, a well-known American politician who was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968. He was also the brother of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.
He is running as a Democratic candidate against current President Joe Biden.