COLUMBIA (South Carolina) - A 78-YEAR-OLD man with more than a dozen weapons in his home was arrested after federal authorities said he told a nurse he wanted to kill President Barack Obama.
But the man's son said on Friday his father only spoke out as a cry for help for mental instability.
Michael Stephen Bowden was being held at the Spartanburg County jail. He was arrested Nov 18 after he told a nurse at a Veterans Affairs clinic in Spartanburg he was thinking of killing the president, according to a sworn statement by a US Secret Service agent.
During a checkup at the clinic Nov 16, a nurse asked Bowden if he ever thought about killing himself. According to the affidavit, Bowden told the nurse, 'Yes, I would like to shoot the president, then myself.'
Bowden repeated those words to another nurse, adding that he wanted to kill Obama 'because he is not doing enough to help African Americans'. The next day, federal agents searched the home that Bowden, who is white, shares with his wife and adult son, finding three semi-automatic handguns and a semi-automatic rifle under Bowden's bed.
Agents also found 13 other guns throughout the home, including a loaded shotgun near the front door. When asked about his comments to the nurses, Bowden acknowledged he made them and also gave agents a sworn, written statement, saying 'if I had the opportunity to put Obama against the wall and shoot him, I would.' -- AP
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