Man charged over bid to assassinate Obama
Source: Agencies |
November 19, 2011, Saturday
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A 21-YEAR-OLD man who called President Barack Obama the "devil" and "anti-Christ" was charged on Thursday with trying to assassinate the United States leader by opening fire on the White House with an assault rifle.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, were not in Washington at the time of the shooting last Friday night.
Oscar Ortega-Hernandez of Idaho Falls, Idaho, appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Pittsburgh, who ordered him transferred to Washington. He was arrested on Wednesday at a hotel near Indiana, Pennsylvania.
No one was hurt in the shooting last Friday. The Secret Service said one bullet broke a White House window but was stopped by protective ballistic glass, and the other round struck the exterior of the building. Federal Bureau of Investigation officers who scoured the White House grounds on Wednesday found several bullet impacts on the south side of the executive mansion on the second story or above. The president's family quarters are on those upper floors.
Ortega-Hernandez was charged with attempted assassination of the president, Assistant US Attorney James Kitchen said at the court hearing. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
He appeared in court wearing a white jumpsuit and said nothing except "yes, ma'am," when asked by Judge Cynthia Eddy if he understood the charges against him.
A witness interviewed in Idaho who "knows Ortega-Hernandez well" said he had become increasingly agitated against the government, according to a FBI affidavit.
The witness told authorities that Ortega-Hernandez wanted to "hurt" Obama and referred to him as "the anti-Christ," according to the affidavit.
Another witness interviewed in Idaho told authorities that Ortega-Hernandez "was very specific that President Obama was the problem with the government" and that he was "the devil." The witness said Ortega-Hernandez had been "preparing for something," the affidavit said.
Earlier on November 11, police in Arlington, Virginia, had responded to a report of a suspicious person who identified himself as Ortega-Hernandez. Arlington police took photos of him and released him after he declined to let them search his car.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, were not in Washington at the time of the shooting last Friday night.
Oscar Ortega-Hernandez of Idaho Falls, Idaho, appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Pittsburgh, who ordered him transferred to Washington. He was arrested on Wednesday at a hotel near Indiana, Pennsylvania.
No one was hurt in the shooting last Friday. The Secret Service said one bullet broke a White House window but was stopped by protective ballistic glass, and the other round struck the exterior of the building. Federal Bureau of Investigation officers who scoured the White House grounds on Wednesday found several bullet impacts on the south side of the executive mansion on the second story or above. The president's family quarters are on those upper floors.
Ortega-Hernandez was charged with attempted assassination of the president, Assistant US Attorney James Kitchen said at the court hearing. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
He appeared in court wearing a white jumpsuit and said nothing except "yes, ma'am," when asked by Judge Cynthia Eddy if he understood the charges against him.
A witness interviewed in Idaho who "knows Ortega-Hernandez well" said he had become increasingly agitated against the government, according to a FBI affidavit.
The witness told authorities that Ortega-Hernandez wanted to "hurt" Obama and referred to him as "the anti-Christ," according to the affidavit.
Another witness interviewed in Idaho told authorities that Ortega-Hernandez "was very specific that President Obama was the problem with the government" and that he was "the devil." The witness said Ortega-Hernandez had been "preparing for something," the affidavit said.
Earlier on November 11, police in Arlington, Virginia, had responded to a report of a suspicious person who identified himself as Ortega-Hernandez. Arlington police took photos of him and released him after he declined to let them search his car.
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