Guns, drugs, white supremacists, escape attempts from sixth floor windows... the whole enchilada:

QuoteDENVER (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."

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, 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.

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.

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."

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.

CBS4 will have new details on this developing story at 10pm.

Original story here here. Additional reporting here.

Yup, an open and shut case, clearly, complete with Swastika rings and meth.

And really - do people on Meth think they have a hope in hell of hitting the stadium at 750 yards while grinding their teeth, much less a person?

They were really after all those SPIDERS CRAWLING EVERYWHERE!!!

To all those who got all uptight and pissy about the idea some whacko would try to kill the man:  

Quote from: J Arcane;239934To all those who got all uptight and pissy about the idea some whacko would try to kill the man:  

Dude - EVERY Presidential candidate is a potential target. Just this got publicity. I bet there are all sorts of half-baked plots and attempts stopped every 4 years during election years.

Good that they caught the miscreants.


- Ed

Can't wait for Jackie to get back from his game night. :rolleyes:

750 yards... that's about 685 meters.

How good a marksman do you need to be to hit that far?

(Creepy question, I know...)

Good. Not just deer-hunting good (that's closing in on 1/2 a mile). And zooming on meth wouldn't make it any easier. Assuming there was even a vantage point that could shoot down into Invesco from that range. I imagine we'll find out all about it in good time; or we'll never hear of it again.

Its a possible and doable shot - but you have to be a really good marksman.

I forget the guy's name - the  tower shooter at that Texas university back in the 1960s.  Think that kind of range was involved with that. Also a, If I remember right, a Korean war veteran helped the cops take the guy down.


- Ed C.

Damn, Hillary wasn't one of them.  That's one betting pool I'm not getting a cent from.

Regarding 600 meter shooting: I went to a professional shooting competition once and the farthest we shot was, in fact, 600 meters. At ten foot tall paper targets. The top shooters, the regulars who went year after year, could reliably hit the more or less head sized bullseye every time.  

At my end of the spectrum most people required extensive spotting just to hit the paper. To toot my own horn: I was roughly low-median shooting throughout the competition (best on my team in several events, which speaks to how woefully underprepared we were...). So, I'd say that the top ten percent of people who shoot regularly enough to even consider a pro match can hit the head reliably enough (80%-100%) with just iron sights, as you move down from there you'll find even people 'that good' who struggle to get within ten feet of the dude.  Knowledge of ballistics becomes very useful at that range... which was where my team struggled, we had never tried that distance before.

Of course, we were using iron sights, not scopes.  The impact of a properly set up scope can not be stressed enough. Of course, at 600 meters your fucking heartbeat can swing a shot six inches or more, easily... never mind the meth! Shooters who get busted for doping invariably are taking DOWNERS....

Yeah, I bet we'll be seeing a lot of this sort of stuff in the next eight years.  A black man getting elected in America is the death knell of white supremacy.

Doesn't surprise me much. I recall a report on channel 4 news in the UK some time ago when Obama hadn't yet won the Democrat nomination. I'm sure that the usual media creative editing was employed to cut out the reasonable people, but it was full of folks saying that they would never vote for a black man, no matter what his politics were.

The 2 things that surprised me the most about it were 1) Most of these folks were young, and 2) It was in New York.

Haven't got a link or anything, it was months ago, but it stuck in my memory.

Edit: Before someone jumps on this as some sort of anti-US sentiment on my part - at least you have reached the stage where you can vote him into office.

QuoteShooters who get busted for doping invariably are taking DOWNERS

I read one North Korean was sent home from the last Olympics for using an 'anti-trembling' drug. I'd imagine these American morons were more along the lines of the Manson family and needed the meth just to get their ass off the farm.

QuoteI forget the guy's name - the tower shooter at that Texas university back in the 1960s. Think that kind of range was involved with that. Also a, If I remember right, a Korean war veteran helped the cops take the guy down.

Charles Whitman was the shooter.