Armed man allegedly impersonates U.S. marshal at a RFK Jr. event in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Authorities Saturday released the name of an allegedly armed man accused of impersonating a U.S. marshal at a National Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre where Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke.
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.
Aispuro was arrested at 4:40 p.m. Friday by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department's Wilshire station. Police received a call at around 4:30 p.m. regarding a disturbance at the theatre in the 4400 block of West Eighth Street in the Mid-Wilshire area, Officer Drake Madison told City News Service.
Officers located Aispuro, who was allegedly impersonating a U.S. marshal and claimed to be part of Kennedy's security team.
"He didn't threaten anyone and no one was injured," Madison told CNS.
SUGGESTED: The Issue Is: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Doug Burgum
Police said the suspect was wearing a U.S. Marshals Service badge on a lanyard and was armed with two pistols.
Madison said the FBI was contacted and it was decided that the LAPD would handle the arrest and the investigation.
"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," Kennedy wrote Friday on X. "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.
"I'm still entertaining a hope that President Biden will allow me Secret Service protection."
Kennedy also shared a video of Aispuro being arrested on TikTok.
In July, federal officials denied Kennedy's request for Secret Service protection. U.S. law allows for protection of "major" presidential candidates beginning in the primary season, but it's up to the secretary of Homeland Security, after consulting with a bipartisan committee of House and Senate leaders, to make determinations on who meets that criteria.
The candidate's father, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was assassinated June 5, 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel, less than 2 miles east of the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.