Ohio Man Charged After Bringing Weapons Into Chicago Trump Tower

An Ohio man was charged after police found weapons in his vehicle and hotel room at Chicago's Trump Tower, according to reports on Friday.

Brandon Peck, 21, from Oakwood, Ohio, was arrested on Tuesday night after a Trump Tower employee noticed firearms openly displayed in his room, which prompted a swift response from Chicago police and SWAT teams. Peck was later apprehended at the hotel's gym, Fox 32 reported.

Peck told officers that he had traveled from Ohio to accompany his mother and stepfather for a medical appointment but did not know the time or location of the appointment, authorities said. He admitted to having two firearms in his hotel room and another in his car parked in the Trump Tower garage.

During the search of his room, police discovered a Bear Creek Arsenal 10mm rifle, a semi-automatic Ruger, and a duffel bag filled with several magazines, a firearm frame, and ammunition.

In Peck’s vehicle, investigators found a semi-automatic SIG Sauer, more loaded magazines, a black rifle bag, and a black scope.

According to court records, Peck stated that he had recently purchased the weapons.

Peck has been charged with two felony counts of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon for possessing loaded firearms without a concealed carry license or a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card. Additionally, he was cited for possessing high-capacity magazines and metal-piercing bullets.

No injuries were reported during the incident, but authorities temporarily cordoned off the Trump Tower area during their investigation, Fox 32 added. Trump was not present in the area at the time, according to reports.

The former president has been the target of two assassination attempts over the summer. On July 13, in Butler, Pa., Thomas Crooks, 20, narrowly missed Trump’s right ear in an attack that killed another rally attendee and injured two others.

In September, Secret Service agents thwarted another attempt at Trump’s golf course in Palm Beach. As Trump was playing a round of golf with a friend, agents spotted a rifle barrel emerging from a hedgerow near the green, several hundred yards away from Trump’s position. The suspect, Ryan Routh, reportedly has a murky background, including time spent in Ukraine.

After the second incident, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino speculated on his daily radio show that there could be a “mole” within the agency or the Department of Homeland Security.

“I have to ask you all a really troubling question now that I promised you 10 years ago I would have called myself nuts for asking this,” Bongino said before pausing. “Is there a mole inside the DHS or Secret Service?”

Bongino pointed to several documented cases of foreign nationals or governments attempting to infiltrate U.S. federal agencies, citing a notable example in which two individuals were convicted of impersonating federal agents and deceiving the Secret Service in an elaborate scheme.

“Folks, what happened yesterday in Secret Service jargon, the movement to the golf course, Trump playing golf, is called an OTR — an off-the-record movement, meaning it’s not on the official schedule, meaning very few people knew about it,” Bongino explained.

“What makes me even more curious is that the decision to golf was made at the last minute. So when it was decided, less than 10 people probably knew. How did this guy know to set up there?”

Bongino went on to question, “How did he know where and when to set up, and that Trump would be there? The mole may not be a foreign national himself. I’m not talking about Jason Bourne stuff. Don’t complicate what’s simple,” he said.

He speculated that a "honeypot trap" could be at play. “Is there someone in the Secret Service having a relationship with someone who isn’t who they say they are? The Iranians have run traps like this in Israel and elsewhere, and they want to kill Trump. How do we know there’s not a honeypot trap and that an agent or DHS personnel is in a relationship with someone?”