White House shooting suspect indicted for attempted assassination of Obama

[News_Editor]

White House shooting suspect indicted for attempted assassination of Obama

2012-01-18 08:11:17 GMT+7 (ICT)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a 21-year-old man with the attempted assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama after he fired two shots at the White House in November 2011. He faces life in prison.

The jury returned a 17-count indictment against Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez which charges him with attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, assaulting officers of the United States with a deadly weapon, injury to U.S. property, and related firearms charges.

The incident happened on November 11 when gunshots were heard in the 1600 block of Constitution Avenue, about 700 to 800 yards (640 to 730 meters) from the White House. Several days later, authorities discovered damage to an exterior window of the White House.

"A round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass," a U.S. Secret Service spokesman said in November. "One additional round has been found on the exterior of the White House."

Within five minutes of the shots being heard on November 11, officers located a vehicle in the 2300 block of Constitution Avenue. Evidence in the vehicle led to U.S. Park Police obtaining an arrest warrant for 21-year-old Ortega-Hernandez. He was arrested on November 16 at a hotel in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

"On or about November 11, 2011, in the District of Columbia, the defendant, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez, did knowingly attempt to kill the President of the United States, Barack Obama," the indictment alleges. It adds that damage to the White House was in excess of $1,000.

Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were in California at the time of the shooting, but prosecutors previously said Ortega-Hernandez was "deadly serious about eliminating the president" and viewed Obama as "the devil" or the "anti-Christ." He also believed the federal government was 'conspiring against him.'

Ortega-Hernandez has denied the charges and claimed his car had been stolen and that he never owned a gun, even though his fingerprints were found on ammunition magazines in the vehicle. His federal public defender said his client expects to enter a not-guilty plea.

If convicted, Ortega-Hernandez could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-01-18

[koheesti]

I guess this is the first assassination attempt on the POTUS while he was about 2500 miles away on the other side of the country.