Hat Tip: By John Ensslin, Judy Villa, April Washington, Rocky Mountain News
“We’re aware of the matter discussed tonight by the Aurora Police Department,” said Colorado U.S. Attorney Troy Eid in a statement late Monday night. “Federal law enforcement is working hand-in-glove with the Aurora Police Department. Because this matter is currently under investigation, there is little we can say right now.
“We can say this: We’re absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado.”
At least three people had been arrested in connection with a possible plot to kill Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High, according to CBS4 News. The suspects are being held on either drug or weapons charges.
Aurora police arrested a suspected drunken driver at 1:30 a.m. Sunday during a routine traffic stop. The man was seen “weaving,” sources said.
Aurora police seized from the suspect’s rental pickup a bullet-proof vest, two rifles, one of which was stolen and one with a hunting scope, ammunition, drugs and walkie-talkies.
Detective Marcus Dudley, a police spokesman, would not comment on reports that the men were involved in a plot to kill Obama. He told reporters gathered in a parking lot behind the police station that he could not discuss the “federal implications” of the case or whether others beside the three men had been arrested. However, he did confirm that federal authorities were involved in arresting two of the men.
“Clearly, we feel there are federal implications. Beyond that I can’t elaborate,” he said.
He said the U.S. Attorney for Colorado will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier Monday, CBS4 had reported one of the suspects told authorities that they were “going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a … rifle … sighted at 750 yards.”
Law-enforcement sources told CBS4 that one of the suspects “was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative.”
A second source told CBS4 News that they are concerned they may have come upon a possible “assasination plot.”
Dudley identified the three suspects as:
* Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28, who was carrying a Colorado identification card that listed a Centennial address. Gartrell was erratically driving a rented 2008 blue Dodge Ram truck that was not registered in his name. The guns, ammo, drugs and other equipment were found in the truck.
* Nathan Johnson, 32. About three hours after Gartrell’s arrest, police from Aurora, Denver and Greenwood Village, and federal agents arrested Johnson at a hotel near Interstate 25 and Belleview Avenue. He is being held on drug charges in Denver. His bond amount was not available.
* Shawn Robert Adolf, 33. Police and federal agents arrested Adolf at the Cherry Creek Hotel at 600 South Colorado Boulevard in Glendale around 5 a.m. Sunday after he jumped from a sixth-floor window. Adolf was injured when he fell four stories onto the second-floor roof of the hotel kitchen. He then jumped again onto the ground around the hotel, where police caught him a short time later. Johnson was hospitalized with unspecified injuries from his fall. He is being held on 7 outstanding warrants with bonds totaling $1 million.
The Secret Service, ATF, FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office are investigating.
Skeptical Brotha 
And folks want to call Obama a coward… I don’t think so.
Perhaps he has some character flaws and some definite challenges to overcome. But a coward? Um, no…
It only takes one shot to permanantly remove Senator Obama from the loving arms of his wife, the innocent arms of his children, and the anticipating arms of many Americans. And he knows that… But he, with all of his imperfections on display for the world stage to obsessively judge him, still keeps going.
Yes, his motivations may sometimes be polluted with political bullcrap from time to time, but the man, he and his wife, are strikingly sincere and commited. I give them props for that.
I don’t agree with everything that the senator does. I wish he would step up his game and bring the pain, without employing his sarcasm, that many mistake as arrogance. But all in all, he’s okay. He’s a good brotha.
I pray that God’s protective power cover Senator Obama, his beautiful wife, and his innocent little babies.
No weapon formed against this man and his family shall prosper.
Last night, anxiety filled my heart as I anticipated the first day of class. Even though I taught this summer and it was a success, I was still allowing my imagination to bring me to a place of fear about the first day of class this fall semester.
What was I afraid of?
Afraid of what the students would think about having a blind teacher…
Afraid of whether or not they would not think I was good enough, smart, enough, and capable enough…
Afraid that I was going to stumble over mywords, simply because I didn’t have a printed sheet of paper and/or a power point presentation in front of me to help me stay on track.
Afraid that I would bump into the desk and look clumsy as I was coming back from closing the door…
I prayed and gathered myself and shook off the fear, reminding myself that I am capable, I am good enough, and that I am competent, despite being disabled.
I went to class this morning, and everything that my imagination bounced around the previous night did not occur. It was all good. It was a success.
I patted myself on the shoulder for facing my fears, for deciding that the possibilities of what I was afraid of happening was not more powerful than what I hoped to accomplish as one of the faculty, a disabled faculty, at the college.
But with all that being said, if I thought for a moment that my damn life could end because of that job, I would never go. If I thought that my damn head would be blown off, I wouldn’t go. If I thought that my mama, my daddy, or my babies (nephew and nieces) could be in dnager because of that damn job, I promise you I would let the job go in a heartbeat.
And most of us would do that. We would let the job go and all the possibilities surrounding the job, if we had a hint that there was danger seeking to overcome us.
So, I commend Senator Obama for still going forward, knowing what he knows about the threats. I commend our future first lady for moving forward, knowing what she knows. I commend both of them for going forward, knowing what could happen to their girls.
How dare we call him a coward. Call him something else. But “coward” does not properly fit.
I never would call him a coward. Nor Michelle. That’s why the whole ‘unpatriotic’ bullshit made me seeth.
Michelle Obama knows that in a matter of a few seconds she could lose her family, and still they go forth. He didn’t get Secret Service protection earlier than anyone else because the Secret Service didn’t have anything to do.
I’ve said some prayers tonight.
As an african american this is my secret fear. It is a fear all successful black men and women face as they strive to do what never has been done before, say what has never been said before. I hope God protects this man, because although I don’t agree with EVERYTHING the man says, I feel that his attainment of this goal, President of a country that enslaved US, is the beginning of the return our greatness and recognizing our true value in this country and the world.
Obama is probably familiar with the threats that will ALWAYS surround him and his family. Yet he still embraces the opportunity. The man has giant balls. I lived through Malcolm X’s assassination, MLK’s assassination, Medger Evers, JFK, RFK and Emmitt Till. If they kill Obama the american dream is proven to be a lie. If they kill Obama then Black people all over the world will begrudgingly know deep in their hearts that this country is not what it claims to be. The mask will be removed and all the world will see the evil that lurks in the heart of men, that believe this world and this country belong to white men who hate and despise anything not like them. Basically the other 90% of the worlds population. These “devils” have been the bane of western civilization, if that’s what you want to call it, since we were dragged over here to do the heavy lifting of building this country. If they take this hope, this dream, from my people my anger and distrust will show no bounds. To kill such a talented man because of the color of his skin offends these people, this is demonic madness.
God protect him, protect our dream, protect our hope. If it is God’s will, if not we are on the edge of the end as we know it.
In June I was in a restaurant in O’Hare Airport waiting for a flight and started chatting with a guy sitting next to me. It turns out he was part of Obama’s Secret Service detail. He said that he and his fellow agents all agreed that Obama was the most friendly and unusual high profile politician any of them had met. He said Obama was always courteous, always asked about their families and even made birthday calls to their spouses and children. He also assured me that they were not going to let anything bad happen to him. I felt comforted by this conversation and thought I’d pass it along.
These fools were not assassins and if they were, its was only in thier own inept minds. There are many successful black men and women in this country that don’t subscribe to the “white male sniper behind every tree” mentality. I don’t agree with Obama’s politics, I believe him to be a media-made, packaged, empty suit who’s lost in space without a teleprompter. But I too hope some crazy does not take him out. It would certianly not be good for the US…regardless of race
I think that any person running for the position of POTUS realizes that they have a target on their back. There are enough crazies out there who would be willing to assassinate the president, no matter race, gender or political party, just because they’d go down in history.
In a Feb. 2007 interview on “60 Minutes”, Steve Kroft asked Michelle Obama about this very subject. Her response (paraphrased) was that she did not lose sleep over thinking about this subject because the reality is, that as a black man, Barack could get shot going to the gas station.
Yip, as we all could, in certain parts of town…say…south side of Atlanta 🙂
Not surprisingly, they look “somewhat” inbred.
BTW…I think Obama’s safe for now only because the cold-blooded predators that really run this country gave up physical assassination for character assassination as their choice of poison over the past 30 years.
Thanks for the story Trip.
I pray every single night for the safety of Barack and his family, and that he will become POTUS if it is meant to be. I hate when people, in my own family, say, “I want him to win, but you know he’s gonna get assassinated.” It’s so disheartening and ignorant. It pisses me off.
I hope that the Secret Service will do their job as well as they have been, and I know God will be watching and protecting.
What amazes me is how much media coverage this news item received. Not much at all. A plot to assassinate the next president of the US and it was just mentioned here in the UK as an extra news story? Why? It was sheer luck that these guys got caught and nothing else. The guy could so easily have pulled this hit off as he even discussed the plan to the cops. But still the cops believe it not to be a ‘credible threat’?
On a side note. What if the guy was a Muslim instead of an inbred? Then, im sure the news coverage would have been huge right?
DESTINY,
It saddens me to know that we could be watching history play out in a great but terrible end.
God forbids it, but I feel we are moving towards something that may force this nation to really deal with the racism in this country. We have not effectively dealt with this issue.
Just like we didn’t deal with levees in N.O, the airport security before 911, our borders, greedy CEO’s, and religion. All of those issues were forced on us to deal with.
We been using the same ole patch for racism for too long. “Every man is created equally” but not “treated equally.”
Until you show you are willing to die for what you believe in, how can I or anyone take you seriously….
I commend OBAMA and family for their sacrafice and appreciate their courage.
Black men always get hit the hardest with the “sell out” line.
I believe OBAMA can be considered well off by now. right? He has the american dream already.
The house, the car, the dog. Yet he still hasn’t took the money and ran like many have done.
He’s heard the same words we all heard when discussing a black man becoming president,
(“They’ll kill him.”) How do you deal with that?
I’ll tell you how….. The same way,
JACKIE ROBINSON, MARTIN LUTHER KING, JOE LOUIS, ALI , MEAGAR EVERS, HARRIET TUBMAN, MARCUS GARVEY, MANDELA, MALCOLM X, and JESUS did.
Along with many more unforgotten and forgotten human beings of this world that has done it.
These two inbreds had no chance and were so high on drugs when they were caught, they were babbbling all kinds of racist BS. These two fools don’t represent an institutional racism anymore than last week’s rape of a white woman by a black man here in Houston means all blacks hate whites. Newman, you seem to forget, if Obama is elected, it will be due to the white vote….and what will you say then? The racist histrionics will not play well then. Obama will be our next president, and some of you will need to practice a new mantra, racism will not be the hiding place it once was! This is history
Michael,
I’d like to point out that no Democratic president has won the White House with a majority of the white vote since LBJ did so in 1964. That is to say, if Obama wins it is very likely that he will do so winning only a minority of the white vote.
They should be sent to Pontiac, Illinois. Hello?
Those in the know; Know!