Three men discussed assassinating U.S. Sen. Barack Obama during the Democratic convention in Denver by sneaking into one of his events and shooting him with a gun hidden inside a camera.
Nathan Johnson’s girlfriend, whose name is being withheld because she is a juvenile, said that “it would have to be a suicide mission,” according to federal court records.
The plot is similar to that of the 1992 movie “The Bodyguard,” in which Kevin Costner’s character foils an attempt to kill a pop star played by Whitney Houston after spotting a weapon hidden inside a TV camera.
Johnson, Shawn Adolf and Tharin Gartrell all thought that Obama had a suite on the third floor of a Hyatt hotel where they were staying. In fact, Obama was not in Denver and had plans to stay at a different hotel after he arrived.
The men were doing methamphetamine inside the hotel with two women on Aug. 23 discussing the plot to kill Obama, according to the federal records. Adolf said “it would not matter if he killed Sen. Obama because police would simply add a murder charge to his pending charges,” according to the records.
There were seven outstanding warrants for Adolf’s arrest.
The underage woman told law enforcement that Adolf also talked about using “a high-powered rifle . . . from a high vantage point” to shoot Obama during his acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High.
The FBI initially thought there was probable cause to believe the men were conspiring to kill Obama. But U.S. Attorney for Colorado Troy Eid last week said further investigation revealed insufficient evidence to indicate a “true threat” to Obama.
