The local CBS News affiliate in Denver reports:
CBS4 has 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.”
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.
Sources told CBS4 police found two high-powered, scoped rifles in the car along with camouflage clothing, walkie-talkies, wigs, a bulletproof vest, a spotting scope, licenses in the names of other people and 44 grams of methamphetamine. One of the rifles is listed as stolen from Kansas….
Subsequently authorities went to the Cherry Creek Hotel to contact an associate of Gartrell’s. But that man, identified as Shawn Robert Adolph, 33, who was wanted on numerous warrants, jumped out of a sixth floor hotel window. Law enforcement sources say Adolph broke an ankle in the fall and was captured moments later. Sources say he had a handcuff ring and was wearing a swastika, and is thought to have ties to white supremacist organizations.
A third man — an associate of Gartrell and Adolph, Nathan Johnson, 32, was also arrested. He told authorities that the two men “planned to kill Barack Obama at his acceptance speech.”
Johnson, along with his girlfriend, Natasha Gromek, are also under arrest on drug charges.
ME: Obviously, if guilty, these guys should be strung from the highest post — notwithstanding that the police are saying they are not sure this was “a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out,” and are ensuring the public, “We’re absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado.” Maybe Sen. Obama will have a new appreciation for law-enforcement, and for the fact (which most on the Left won’t entertain) that sometimes when police stop and search someone — without a warrant! — for mere erratic driving, they really do discover far more serious crime. Let’s also hope the media cover this responsibly rather than framing white supremacists named Adolph as rank-and-file Republicans.