STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

Police Reportedly Break Up Plot to Kill Obama

Posted Aug. 26, 2008 – At least four Colorado men have been arrested with rifles, bullet-proof vest, walkie-talkies and camouflage clothes in an alleged plot to kill Sen. Barack Obama, according to reports from news media and law-enforcement agencies.  

TV station CBS4 reports that the suspects planned to shoot Obama in Denver during his acceptance speech.

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One suspect was nabbed in Aurora on Sunday, after being stopped by police for swerving in traffic in a rented pickup truck, reports say. When police searched his car, they found two rifles, along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies and methamphetamine.

Arrested at the scene was 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell (pictured left above). His associate, Nathan Johnson, 32, (pictured right above), was arrested shortly afterward at a Denver hotel. A third man was held after leaping from a six-floor hotel window. Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, broke his ankle and was taken to a hospital for treatment.

One of the suspects said he was "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a... rifle," CBS4 reported. But, Troy Eid, U.S. attorney for Colorado , said in a statement that he is confident that “there is no credible threat” to the presumptive nominee.

One law-enforcement official told CNN that it could be merely be a bunch of  “methed-up yahoos talking out of their heads.”   Aurora, Colo., Police Det. Marcus Dudley declined to elaborate about his department’s findings, citing security implications. 

In addition to local Colorado police departments, the alleged plot is being investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, which has jurisdiction over all security during the four-day Democratic Party convention in Denver, the FBI and also the joint terrorism task force, officials say.

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