{"id":268396,"date":"2026-04-15T03:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268396\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T03:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T03:06:08","slug":"body-armored-gunman-with-frightening-messages-scrawled-on-rifle-arrested-after-firing-shot-near-trump-national-golf-course-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268396\/","title":{"rendered":"Body-armored gunman with frightening messages scrawled on rifle arrested after firing shot near Trump National Golf Course Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

A heavily armed Glendale man, Sean Steiner, is facing multiple felony firearm charges after deputies say he wandered into a high-profile Los Angeles-area neighborhood dressed in body armor and carrying a collection of weapons<\/a>, including a rifle styled with \u201cJoker\u201d imagery and phrases.<\/p>\n

The incident unfolded along Palos Verdes Drive South near the luxury Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles<\/a> in Rancho Palos Verdes, after a caller alerted authorities to a man wearing rifle-rated body armor near hiking trails.<\/p>\n

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Steiner had earlier been seen hiking the area with gloves, a duffle bag, a step stool and a rifle while wearing protective gear capable of stopping rifle rounds.<\/p>\n

Things escalated when deputies later found him running through traffic before taking him into custody.<\/p>\n

A heavily armed Glendale man, Sean Steiner, is facing multiple felony firearm charges. Facebook\/Lomita Sheriff’s Station<\/p>\n

The incident unfolded along Palos Verdes Drive South near the luxury Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department, Steiner had earlier been seen hiking the area with gloves, a duffle bag, a step stool and a rifle while wearing protective gear capable of stopping rifle rounds. Getty Images<\/p>\n

At the time of his arrest about a week ago, officials say Steiner was armed with a loaded semi-automatic short-barreled rifle, round already chambered and magazine fully loaded, as well as a loaded revolver.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The rifle was painted green and purple and marked with phrases including \u201cWhy so serious?\u201d <\/a>and \u201cLet\u2019s put a smile on that face,\u201d<\/a> giving it a distinct \u201cJoker\u201d-style appearance.<\/p>\n

Investigators also recovered additional firepower, including two loaded handguns, high-capacity magazines, extra ammunition, a ballistic vest and an AR-style pistol with an orange tip designed to resemble a toy weapon.<\/p>\n

Deputies further allege Steiner admitted to firing one of the pistols in a nearby landslide area shortly before his arrest, saying he was trying to \u201cget some anger out.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of his arrest about a week ago, officials say Steiner was armed with a loaded semi-automatic short-barreled rifle, round already chambered and magazine fully loaded, as well as a loaded revolver.\u00a0 Facebook\/Lomita Sheriff’s Station<\/p>\n

Authorities credited a quick-thinking caller and the \u201cSee Something, Say Something\u201d initiative for helping prevent a potentially dangerous situation from escalating, noting that deputies were able to intervene in a populated area before anyone was injured.<\/p>\n

Other recent incidents at Trump\u2019s Rancho Palos Verdes site include a \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest in March\u00a0where opposing demonstrators squared off, and an assault where a man was knocked unconscious<\/a> reported in December 2024.<\/p>\n

In Florida, the Secret Service fatally shot Austin Tucker Martin<\/a> at Mar-a-Lago in February 2026, and Ryan Wesley Routh<\/a> was recently sentenced to life for a 2024 assassination attempt in West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heavily armed Glendale man, Sean Steiner, is facing multiple felony firearm charges after deputies say he wandered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,100720,116973,48,52,51,47,50,49,4182,1519,3586],"class_list":{"0":"post-268396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-golf-course","10":"tag-joker","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-headlines","13":"tag-la-news","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","16":"tag-los-angeles-news","17":"tag-metro","18":"tag-trump","19":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}