Obama suspects 'not credible threat'
Updated on 26 August 2008
A gunman who allegedly threatened Barack Obama was never a "credible threat" to the White House hopeful, US authorities have said.
Police said they found two rifles, a scope, a bulletproof vest, ammunition, walkie-talkies and drugs when they pulled over 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell for driving his truck erratically in the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, on Sunday morning.
He was one of three men arrested along with a woman on Sunday over an alleged plot to shoot Mr Obama as he accepted the Democratic party's presidential nomination.
But US Attorney Troy Eid played down fears that Mr Obama could have been gunned down as he made the acceptance speech in front of 75,000 people in a Denver stadium.
Mr Eid said: "We're absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado."
FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright confirmed agents were investigating reports the man had threatened Mr Obama, who will become the first black president of the US if he is elected in November.
One of the suspects, Nathan Johnson, gave a television interview saying others involved in the case had discussed killing the Illinois senator on the day of the speech.
When asked if he felt there was a plot to kill Mr Obama, Johnson said: "Looking back at it, I don't want to say yes, but I don't want to say no."
Federal agents arrested Johnson, 32, who was already being held on drugs charges at a hotel in Denver, hours after they detained Gartrell.
They then seized Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, after he jumped from a sixth-storey window in a bid to avoid arrest and hospitalised himself.
Adolf had a handcuff key in one hand and a swastika ring on the other when he was arrested.
At least two of the men had white supremacist ties, FBI officials added
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