By MAGGIE HABERMAN, AP, Reuters
Last updated: 11:37 am
October 28, 2008
Posted: 3:42 am
October 28, 2008
Two twisted neo-Nazi skinheads plotted to don white tuxes and top hats as they slaughtered Barack Obama - an attack they hoped would cap a "killing spree" of 88 African Americans around the country, including the beheading of 14, officials said yesterday.
"They said that would be their last, final act - that they would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Jim Cavanaugh in Nashville. "They didn't believe they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul Schlesselman, 18, of West Helena, Ark., "planned to drive their vehicle as fast as they could toward Obama, shooting at him from the windows," according to a criminal complaint filed in Jackson, Tenn., federal court.
"Both individuals stated they would dress in all-white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the complaint says. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would - and were willing to - die during this attempt."
Officials said they were treating the threats seriously, but ABC News quoted an Obama aide as saying the Democratic nominee's Secret Service detail hadn't been given a heads-up.
Campaign officials for Obama, the first black presidential nominee from a major party, declined to comment.
The improbable plot was hatched after the suspects met online about a month ago, the complaint says.
They soon began talking about "going on a 'killing spree' " funded by robberies of homes and a gun store, according to the complaint.
Yet their arsenal was mostly swiped from relatives. Schlesselman had a sawed-off, 12-gauge shotgun and his dad's .357 gun. Cowart had a rifle, and swiped two guns from his grandfather.
The two men, who share a fascination with white power and skinhead philosophy, first met face-to-face Oct. 20 when Cowart - a high-school dropout who lives with his grandparents - drove to Arkansas to pick up Schlesselman.
Copyright Reuters.
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