A man with a shotgun and a pistol was arrested before a Trump rally in California

An armed man was arrested near the rally in favor of US presidential candidate Donald Trump in California, according to the police. The incident took place on Saturday evening in the city of Coachella, the Russian service of the BBC reports.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Vam Miller, 49, of Las Vegas, was arrested at an intersection checkpoint an hour before Trump's speech, driving a black SUV and carrying a shotgun, a loaded handgun and a large magazine.

Authorities also say the man had multiple passports and driver's licenses.

The man was reportedly arrested on charges of illegal possession of firearms and later released on $5,000 bail. His court hearing is scheduled for January 2 next year.

Authorities said the incident did not affect the safety of Trump or the rally participants.

The local sheriff says that the police, in fact, managed to prevent an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, but many questions about the incident remain unanswered.

Chad Bianco said it was impossible to speculate what was going through the suspect's mind and acknowledged that it may be impossible to disprove that the man intended to kill Trump.

He noted that the man's SUV had a fake license plate, and the inside of the car was in a state of disrepair. According to Bianko, several passports and driver's licenses with different names were found there.

The suspect also told the authorities that he was a member of the "Sovereign Citizens" group.

"I would not say that this is a militant group. It's just a group that doesn't believe in government and government control," he said.

Chad Bianco is a Republican and has come out in support of Trump in the past. He is also a proxy for the candidate in California.