Suspects: Nathan Johnson, Tharin Gartrell and Shawn Adolf are being questioned over a suspected racist sniper plot against Barack Obama
Four held over 'white supremacist gun plot to assassinate Barack Obama'
26th August 2008[/align]
An alleged racist sniper plot to assassinate Barack Obama has been uncovered. Four people, including a woman have been arrested over the alleged plot. FBI and secret service agents are now investigating claims that there were plans to use a high-powered rifle with a telescopic sight to shoot Mr Obama at the Democratic Party’s four-day convention in Denver.
U.S. law enforcement sources said one of the suspects had admitted travelling to Denver to kill the first African-American to be nominated for president. The shooting was allegedly planned for Thursday, when the White House hopeful will be in the city to formally accept his party's nomination for the November elections. His speech is due to be made at the 75,000-seat Invesco stadium and the shooting would have been from a distance of at least 750 yards in front of almost 100,000 people.
The alleged plot was thwarted by local traffic police on a routine patrol. It came to light on Sunday when the officers stopped a pick-up truck driving erratically in Aurora, less than 20 miles from the Democrats' convention venue. Two high-powered rifles with telescopic sights were found when pol ice searched the rented Dodge truck, which was being driven by 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell. They also found camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, a bulletproof vest, licences in the names of other people and the drug methamphetamine. One of the rifles was listed as stolen from Kansas.
Police then went to Gartrell's room at the Cherry Creek Hotel in Aurora to arrest a second man. As officers closed in, the man - said to be 33-year-old Shawn Robert Adolf - jumped from a sixth-floor window, landing on an awning before falling off and breaking his ankle. Police said he was wearing a ring with a Nazi swastika and had links to Aryan Nation - a white supremacist group classified as a terrorist threat by the FBI. The men may also have ties to outlawed biker group Sons of Silence.
A third man arrested at another hotel in Denver told police there was a plan to kill Mr Obama when he made his acceptance speech. He has been identified as Nathan Johnson, 32.
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So they just owned up to plotting treason? That makes perfect sense!
