Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called on Joe Biden to provide him with Secret Service protection after an armed gunman was arrested at his campaign site – just two miles from where his father was assassinated in 1968.
The Democratic presidential candidate was giving a speech at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles on Friday evening when the suspect tried to approach him.
The man was wearing a U.S. Marshal’s badge on a lanyard and was attempting to identify himself as a member of Kennedy’s security team.
He wore two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition.
The incident occurred less than two miles from the former site of the Ambassador Hotel, 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, where RFK was shot in June 1968 after winning the Democratic presidential primary in California. After the hotel was demolished in 2005, the property was later redeveloped as the Robert F. Kennedy School.
“I still hold out hope that President Biden will grant me Secret Service protection,” Kennedy said after the eerie and frightening incident.
The suspect (pictured) was wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and had spare ammunition
The Democratic candidate spoke at a Hispanic Heritage Month event at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles on Friday evening
The incident occurred less than two miles from where his father was shot on June 5, 1968. Kennedy Sr. died a day later at Good Samaritan Hospital
Kennedy thanked X, formerly known as Twitter, for the quick actions of those around him who were able to intercept the suspect.
“I am very grateful that vigilant and quick-acting protectors at Gavin de Becker and Associates (GDBA) discovered and apprehended an armed man who attempted to approach me at my Hispanic Heritage speech at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles this evening approaching,” Kennedy wrote.
“The man, wearing two shoulder holsters with loaded pistols and spare ammunition magazines, was wearing a U.S. Marshal badge on a lanyard and a federal identification card on his belt clip.” He identified himself as a member of my security detail.
“Armed GDBA team members moved quickly to isolate and restrain the man until LAPD arrived to make the arrest.” I am also grateful to the LAPD for their quick response.
RFK Jr. added that he hoped he would be granted Secret Service protection following the incident.
“I am the first presidential candidate in history to be denied a request for protection by the White House.”
RFK – an underdog for the Democratic nomination in 2024 as he trails Biden 76 percent to 9 percent in the poll – complained last month after the Biden administration rejected his request for intelligence protection.
The Secret Service typically provides protection to “major” presidential candidates within 120 days of the election.
The suspect was arrested by police after claiming to be part of Kennedy’s security team
Supporters of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wait in line to enter the Wilshire Ebell Theater as he celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month in Los Angeles
Kennedy shared an update with his followers on X, adding that he hoped President Biden could grant him Secret Service protection
Kennedy took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to thank the quick actions of those who were able to intercept the incident after the incident
Sirhan Sirhan shot Kennedy shortly after the U.S. senator from New York won the crucial 1968 Democratic presidential primary in California
The incident occurred less than two miles from where his father, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, was shot after claiming victory in the California primary, which he claimed The key to his victory was his bid for the presidency.
On June 5, 1968, Robert Kennedy had shared his excitement about his victory in front of some 2,000 supporters at a rally at the Ambassador Hotel and was making his way through the kitchen to a meeting with journalists when shots were fired.
He was shot multiple times, and five other people in the crowded kitchen were also hit.
Kennedy lay flat on his back in the kitchen with his eyes open for a while as a crowd crowded around him. Some observers said they heard him say as he was being lifted into a police ambulance: “Oh no.” No, not.
Pandemonium broke out. Roosevelt Grier quickly grabbed the much smaller gunman, snatched the gun from his grasp and held him for the police.
Sirhan Sirhan (pictured) shot Robert F. Kennedy in 1968
Senator Robert Kennedy and Ambassador Hotel staff Juan Romero photographed moments after RFK was shot by Sirhan Sirhan on June 5, 1968
Sirhan was arrested and convicted of assassinating New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. The assassin claims he cannot remember the events of the fatal night
Sirhan, 79, is incarcerated at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in San Diego, California
President Lyndon Johnson and others across the country, including Kennedy’s campaign rival, Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, expressed shock and sadness. Johnson ordered the FBI’s full resources to be put into the case and to order Secret Service protection for key candidates.
Kennedy was initially taken to Central Receiving Hospital, where a doctor said he was “virtually dead” upon arrival.
There, doctors administered closed heart massage, oxygen and adrenaline. “At first he had no pulse,” said a doctor who treated him, “then his pulse came back and we heard a heartbeat and he started breathing a little irregularly.”
A team of six surgeons began brain surgery at 3:12 a.m., which lasted about three hours and 40 minutes.
He died nearly 25 hours later after being shot at Good Samaritan Hospital.
Mayor Sam Yorty and Police Chief Tom Reddin said at a news conference at the time that a then-23-year-old Sirhan Sirhan had been tracked down by the .22 pistol used to lesser-severely wound Kennedy and five others, and that the identification was via a brother, Nobility, Sirhan from Pasadena.
Pallbearers (including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in front) carry Senator Robert Kennedy’s casket to the gravesite at Arlington National Cemetery on June 9, 1968
Sirhan has been in prison for 55 years since he shot RfK and five others during the shootout at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles
Earlier this year, a California panel denied Sirhan’s release on parole, saying the 78-year-old prisoner continued to lack insight into the reasons that led him to shoot the senator and then-presidential candidate.
Sirhan’s lawyer, Angela Berry, argued against the panel’s position, saying Sirhan had shown he was aware of his actions and his psychiatrists had said for years that he was unlikely to pose a danger to society if released.
Two years ago, another California parole board agreed with Berry and voted to release Sirhan, but Gov. Gavin Newson rejected the decision in 2022.
Berry said she believes Wednesday’s new board members were influenced by Newsom and the lawyers representing Kennedy’s widow and some of his children – several of the slain politician’s relatives oppose Sirhan’s release, although not all.
When the governor rejected Sirhan’s release last year, he said the prisoner remained a threat to the public and took no responsibility for a crime that changed American history.
“I feel like the board bowed to the political whim of the governor,” Berry said after the hearing at a federal prison in San Diego County.
Berry said the aging prisoner also “wasn’t as articulate” when speaking to the board this time. The board recommended that Sirhan do more work to better understand what makes a person a political assassin, she said.