Skinheads plotted to assassinate Obama, shoot or behead black peopleBy LARA JAKES JORDAN
Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 10/27/2008 04:55:27 PM CDT
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This
undated photo obtained from a MySpace webpage shows Daniel Cowart, 20
of Bells, Tenn. holding a weapon. Federal agents have broken up a plot
to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama,
D-Ill. and shoot or decapitate 88 black people in a Tennessee murder
spree, the ATF said Monday Oct. 27, 2008. In court records unsealed
Monday, federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun store and
target a predominantly African-American high school by two neo-Nazi
skinheads. The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul
Schlesselman 18, of West Helena, Ark., are being held without bond. (AP
Photo)
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WASHINGTON
— Law enforcement agents have broken up a plot by two neo-Nazi
skinheads to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama
and shoot or decapitate 88 black people, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
Firearms and Explosives said Monday. In court records unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in
Jackson, Tenn., federal agents said they disrupted plans to rob a gun
store and target a predominantly African-American high school in a
murder spree that was to begin in Tennessee. Agents said the skinheads
did not identify the school by name.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent in charge of ATF's Nashville field
office, said the two men planned to kill 88 black people, including 14
by beheading. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white
supremacist community.
The men also sought to go on a national killing spree after the
Tennessee murders, with Obama as its final target, Cavanaugh told The
Associated Press.
"They said that would be their last, final act — that they
would attempt to kill Sen. Obama," Cavanaugh said. "They didn't believe
they would be able to do it, but that they would get killed trying."
An Obama spokeswoman traveling with the senator in Pennsylvania had no immediate comment.
The men, Daniel Cowart, 20, of Bells, Tenn., and Paul
Schlesselman 18, of Helena-West Helena, Ark., are being held without
bond. Agents seized a rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and three pistols from
the men when they were arrested. Authorities