Vet, 77, Busted For Obama Death Threat

NOVEMBER 24--A 77-year-old South Carolina man whose home was stocked with an arsenal of guns told Secret Service agents that he wanted to shoot Barack Obama “for what he has done to this country,” according to a criminal complaint charging him with threatening the president’s life.

Michael Bowden allegedly first spoke of killing Obama last week during a “routine check-up” at a Veterans Administration clinic in Spartanburg. Bowden, pictured in the mug shot at right, told a nurse that he “was thinking of traveling to Washington, DC, to shoot the President (Obama) because he is not doing enough to help African Americans,” according to an affidavit sworn by Agent Mark Booth.

In an interview last Wednesday with three federal investigators, Bowden acknowledged threatening Obama’s life at the VA facility.

In a sworn, written statement he noted that, “if I had the opportunity to put Obama against the wall and shoot him, I would.” Bowden added that if he could kill anyone, “I would kill, if possible, the President (Obama), for what he has done to this country.”

During a search of Bowden’s home, agents located three semi-automatic handguns and a semi-automatic rifle--all of which were “fully loaded, with rounds in the firing chamber--near his bed. In Bowden’s son’s bedroom, agents found 12 other guns, while a “loaded, short-barrel shotgun” was found near the home’s front door.

The jailed Bowden, who turns 78 on Friday, may soon be freed pending the completion of a psychiatric evaluation. One condition of his release will require Bowden to refrain from possessing a firearm. (2 pages)