Michael Sandford, the young autistic man arrested for attempting to assassinate Donald Trump during a rally in Las Vegas on June 18 last year, revealed details of the psychotic episodes he experienced that night.
Michael Sandford, who is already reunited with his family in England, after serving his one-year sentence in prison for attempted murder, told The Sun that he heard voices compelling him to assassinate the current US President Donald Trump. According to him, the hallucinations began after hearing the continuous complaints of his girlfriend and his friends about the presidential candidate Donald Trump, who in time became echoes inside his head.
Michael James: 'Voices told me to kill Trump'
“I heard voices telling me to kill Donald Trump; they had been coming for a while and getting stronger and more frequent." At one point they were shouting at me, said the 21-year-old. My friends had said that Donald Trump needed to be arrested. They said he was going to destroy the country but it was the voices in my head that told me to kill him,” e added.
The teenager managed to reach six meters from Trump but was caught when he tried to take the gun off a police officer guarding the event. The day before the incident he was practising his aim in a firing range. "The voices told me I needed to do a practice round before I tried to kill Trump."
But Sandford, who is suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder and Asperger's syndrome, claims he not only heard voices but also had visual hallucinations: “I saw animals trying to attack me; I was seeing all sorts of things.
It was bad but I tried to convince myself that it was okay. "
In the interview, Michael Standford recounted the series of events that culminated in his detention. After getting in line for nine hours to get a good seat, "We were checked out by the Secret Service and I sat near the front. I was watching where the police were.
When Trump took the stage I approached an officer to ask if I could get an autograph".
"I got to be about 20 feet from Trump. There was a single row of seats between him and me. I bent down to try to get the officer's gun out but it stuck in his sheath and he pushed me to the ground. Then the secret service stopped me. The crazy side of me was disappointed that he had failed, but the rational side was very happy that no one was hurt,” he said.
Michael James: 'I was about to die'
"I honestly thought they would shoot I think I'm probably going to die today. After detailing what happened, the young man shared his experience in prison. ”I was locked up in my cell for most of the time, I could not sleep and I was not eating the food, I was terrified, but they gave me medications that made me feel like my old self again," he said.
Regretfully, he is grateful to be back home and reunited with his family since Thursday. "It was an incredible feeling. There were times when I thought not see them again. I am sickened by what I did but glad that no one was hurt. I still dislike Donald Trump but I think that political differences must be resolved peacefully,” he said.
