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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Plot to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point
2008-08-26
Just so everybody's clear on OUR plan, we are going to derail the Messiah with the ballot box, not the ammo box.
DENVER (CBS4) ¯ CBS4 has now learned at least four people are under arrest in connection with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.

CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle ... sighted at 750 yards."
There is no such place anywhere near that close to Invesco field. If there were, the local police and secret service would be quite unlikely to overlook it themselves.
Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."

The story began emerging Sunday morning when Aurora police arrested 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell. He was driving a rented pickup truck in an erratic manner according to sources.
Pickup eh? Shades of Easy Rider. I wonder how good his dental work is.
Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas.
Sounds like high-level assassination is not his usual work.
Subsequently authorities went to the Cherry Creek Hotel to contact an associate of Gartrell's. But that man, who was wanted on numerous warrants, jumped out of a sixth floor hotel window. Law enforcement sources say the man broke an ankle in the fall and was captured moments later. Sources say he was wearing a ring with a swastika, and is thought to have ties to white supremacist organizations.
"As God is my witness, I thought nazis could fly."
A third man -- an associate of Gartrell and the hotel jumper was also arrested. He told authorities that the two men "planned to kill Barack Obama at his acceptance speech."
"It were them two, dammit. Dincha' see Easy Rider?"
That man, along with a woman, are also under arrest.

The Secret Service, FBI, ATF and the joint terrorism task force are all investigating the alleged plot. The U.S. Attorney in Denver has scheduled a news conference for Tuesday afternoon.
Posted by:Atomic Conspiracy

#28  I HAVE MY DOUBTS. AM NEWS > "750-yards and beyond" > in all of US Political History vv POTUS Assassination attempts, AFAIK the bulk of such historical shooting, etc. incidents took place within the Presidents' immediate or intermediate personal space. "750 YARDS" > IIRC, NOT EVEN LEE HARVEY OSWALD WAS THAT FAR AWAY vv JFK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2008-08-26 21:19  

#27  Cut the crap! You inbred donut dunkers would murder the African-American candidate if you had him in your gun-sights. Stay away from your sisters and daughters.

Posted by Half-Wit
Half Wit, I'd vote for Alan Keyes for President of the US in a millisecond if anyone had the backbone to put him on the ballot.

We ("conservatives") aren't the ones making race the issue here.

We understand what you apparantly do not. That United We Stand is the national motto for a reason. And that the only way the sociallists can get elected is to divide us against one another. So Sen. and Mrs. Obama play the Race Card early and often to show how downtrodden they are, and how evil the white Sen. McCain is with his 7 houses. And all the other way they can try to divide us, by class, race, religion or whatever.

No, I would not shoot Sen. Obama even if I could. He will crash and burn just fine without anyone else's help. And I'm going to have a wonderful laugh as I watch Sen. Clinton go ballistic over her missed chance to get another 4 years in the White House.
Posted by: DLR   2008-08-26 18:51  

#26  Poor clueless half-whit (sic). You obviously weren't one of the rich kids at that hinterland high school you attended.
It's ok, I was a poor kid, too. Why, then, is it a problem? Simple: The whole lefty-Bill Maher-Michael Moore "intellectual" trip was invented for those snotty rich kids out in the sticks; as a way of showing that their inheritance/trust fund is so big they don't have to worry about reality. It is just another way to lord it over the putzes.
In 10 years, they will be playing golf at the country club, belittling the hired help, and laughing their asses off at the poor dumb shmucks who thought the scam was the real thing.

See Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dorhn.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2008-08-26 18:49  

#25  I don't have a sister or a daughter. Who should I stay away from? ;)

(Actually, now I'm craving a donut, doughnut, whatever the hell Besoerker was talking about, etc. Bastard had to bring up pastry on my day to go back on my diet, didn't he?)
Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields   2008-08-26 15:21  

#24  I'm still trying to work out the Stay away from your sisters and daughters bit.

Are we supposed to stay away from our own sisters and daughters? If so, why?
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth   2008-08-26 15:10  

#23  What's he gonna do next, call us all "cowboys"?
Posted by: tu3031   2008-08-26 15:04  

#22  Donut is the alternative modern American spelling. Much like lite for all those diet foods, and equally distressing. Perhaps Mr. I See Half-Whits is the type who puts little smiley faces over the i in his name.
Posted by: trailing wife    2008-08-26 14:57  

#21  You inbred donut dunkers

If you wanna call me that, smile.
Posted by: The Virginian   2008-08-26 14:41  

#20  Kinda sad to get into an intellectual argument with someone who has trouble spelling the big words...like "halfwit".
But I do like doughnuts. Oh, look. He spelled that one wrong too.
Posted by: tu3031   2008-08-26 14:37  

#19  Half-Wits: Correctly spelled, I believe it is...'doughnut.' Hate the bloody things myself. Actually prefer koeksisters and a piping hot cup of Rooibos after a taxing day of bush terr hunting. Quite civilized. Cheers mate!
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-08-26 14:35  

#18  I really don't think inbreeding is the problem with this crowd, I See Half-Whits. You really must come up with better insults.
Posted by: trailing wife    2008-08-26 14:33  

#17  Cut the crap! You inbred donut dunkers would murder the African-American candidate if you had him in your gun-sights. Stay away from your sisters and daughters.
Half-wit: I'm a moderator here. We ordinarily allow the regulars a day or two to bat trolls like you around like a piñata. But you're getting tiresome. Clean up the act or you're banned. AoS.
Posted by: I See Half-Whits   2008-08-26 14:19  

#16  Oswald was a USMC trained marksman and his line of sight was considerably closer.

He was most definitely not a tweeker trying to make a sub-MOA shot at over 750 yards at a human sized target.

My guess:

These yoyos are white supremacist gang members (who do and sell meth). This guy knew he was a goner since he is a repeat felon, already convicted of weapons and meth charges. He was being charged with distribution and felon firearms posession charges which will lock him away since the gun charges are done consecutive and are a minimum of 5 years hard tim on top of anything else. So the interrogator stupidly presented him with the opportunity to play "Assasain", he naturally said yes. The dumbass criminal decided to fluff up his white supremecist standing for when he got to the joint by claiming to have been ready to kill the black candidate.

Press and police now say this was NOT a plot - the other two arrested had no idea of nything when they were questioned.

Again, bad police interrogation procedure initially led to this being far overblown into something it was not.

What it is, is simply 3 white supremacist gang members (and their weapons) dealing meth that got busted for it.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-08-26 10:16  

#15  As I remember, Lee Harvey Oswald was a big time loser too.
Posted by: tu3031   2008-08-26 09:21  

#14  I want Obama to lose this fair and square.

Then watch Hillary and the Clinton machine engage in a vengefull political reaping the likes of which has never been seen in US politics.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-08-26 09:06  

#13  Martydom and street naming are not the answers. Painful as it is, best to let it all play out. The American people will endorse the leadership they deserve. On a seperate note, last evenings performance by Michelle was shameless. Poor girl from the South Side of Chicago; poor old dad with MS; no mention of ivey league education; numerous mentions of "giving up big law firm job" to work in the inner-city; tears all around; scripted phone-in from St. Louis Kansas City..... give me a phueching break.
Posted by: Besoeker   2008-08-26 09:00  

#12  they surely made a mistake - the mugshot of Nathan Johnson is Cletus from the Simpsons, I'm sure of it
Posted by: Frank G   2008-08-26 08:37  

#11  Not saying to disregard this, but that its likely a result of questioning the mook poorly than it is a real plot.

Great comments, Old Spook. I think you nailed it.
Posted by: Betty Grating2215   2008-08-26 06:35  

#10  Just to be clear, I don't want a hair touched on Obamas head.
If he becomes a President, even more so.

You made the bed....You sleep with the results.
Posted by: newc   2008-08-26 04:04  

#9  Not to mention their painstakingly slow stalking skills, and ability to get proper hide positions and patiently wait for a day without moving.

Heh. True, but on the plus side, you don't have to worry about them falling asleep on the job.
Posted by: SteveS   2008-08-26 03:21  

#8  Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."


Way to lead the suspect, you idiot interrogator. Ask a meth head white supremacist if he;s going to take a shot at Obama? Like he'd have the sense to say no even if he wasnt?

Sheesh.

Like charging an impotent guy with rape - he may have the equipment and the intent, but he sure as hell doesnt have the capability.

Not saying to disregard this, but that its likely a result of questioning the mook poorly than it is a real plot.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-08-26 02:02  

#7  FYI, the guy had priors for firearms and posession of a controlled substance (meth). Was released by a judge for that with probation and time served last year.

Posted by: OldSpook   2008-08-26 02:00  

#6  Well, you know, tweekers have such steady hands that they are famous for their ability to make sub-MOA shots from 1000+.

Not to mention their painstakingly slow stalking skills, and ability to get proper hide positions and patiently wait for a day without moving.
Posted by: OldSpook   2008-08-26 01:58  

#5  Yes, indeed. Only via extensive testing of the theory shall we arrive at a sound hypothesis even if it requires thousands of tests.

(I'm definite;y not an Obamessiah fan, but this kind of stunt gives anyone who is anti-Obamessiah a bad name - hell it give anyone who is anti-anything a bad name).

Posted by: FOTSGreg   2008-08-26 01:18  

#4  this sounds bogus. Why would the guy admit that he was going to kill Obama? Regardless, it will help Obama further fan the flames of the racist boogeyman.
Posted by: Betty Grating2215   2008-08-26 01:18  

#3  Jumping out a 6th story window takes big brass ones. Or some of his buddies meth.

Which reminds me, I haven't heard from my 61 year old, meth addicted, car salesman buddy. Ima guess he's in another state, about to come down off a bender and I'll get a call from him soon. Again.
Posted by: Mike N.   2008-08-26 01:14  

#2  "As God is my witness, I thought nazis could fly."

I'm all for finding out. Round 'em up and put 'em on a plane.
Posted by: AzCat   2008-08-26 01:13  

#1  3 arrested after alleged threats to kill Obama

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=98343&catid=188
Posted by: JitterBug   2008-08-26 00:16  

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