A Secret Service agent was robbed the armed hand in California over the weekend while President Joe Biden was on the campaign trail in Los Angeles, authorities said Monday.
Police in Tustin, south of Los Angeles, said in a Press release that officers responded to a call about a possible robbery around 9:36 p.m. Saturday. Police said they discovered that the victim worked for the Secret Service and that “her purse was stolen at gunpoint.”
Later, some of the agent’s belongings were found in the area. No suspects were identified.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said in a statement that the off-duty agent was returning from a work mission at the time and that he used his weapon during the encounter.
“The employee discharged his service weapon during the incident, but it is not known whether the attackers were hit. We are grateful that the employee did not suffer any injuries,” Guglielmi said, adding that an investigation was ongoing.
Tustin police confirmed the investigation but declined to comment further Monday night.
Authorities have not named the officer.
The incident occurred the night Biden appeared at a fundraiser in Los Angeles alongside former President Barack Obama, actors George Clooney and Julia Roberts and comedian Jimmy Kimmel, raising a record amount of more than US$30 million for the Democrats’ biggest fundraiser, according to Biden’s re-election campaign.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with