Daniel James Murray, Man Sought For Threatening Obama, Arrested

SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities have arrested a man who allegedly told bank tellers while cleaning out his savings account in Utah that he was on a mission to kill President Barack Obama.

The Secret Service said Daniel James Murray, 36, was arrested Friday outside a casino in Laughlin, Nev., a gambling town 100 miles from Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona line.

He was charged Thursday in Salt Lake City with a federal count of conveying threats while talking to tellers last month at Zions First National Bank in St. George, Utah.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Bearnson said Murray was in federal custody in Nevada and likely will get a court date there Monday. Neither Bearnson nor the Secret Service would discuss whether Murray was considered to be a serious threat.

Charging documents say Murray, originally from Rexford, N.Y., is the registered owner of eight guns.

He was described by his father and former neighbors in Rexford as troubled but not dangerous, known for strolling down a street wearing a cape while talking to himself.

"He's sick. He's been sick for about 10 years," Michael Murray, his father, told the Times Union of Albany, N.Y.

In charging documents filed Thursday, the Secret Service said Daniel Murray made bizarre statements while opening _ and then closing within two weeks _ an $85,000 savings account.

First, he demanded to know if Zions First National Bank was solvent, saying, "I'm sure if citizens happen to lose their money, they will rise up and we could see killing and deaths," bank tellers told a Secret Service agent.

On May 27, as a teller counted out bills no larger than $50, Murray delivered a rambling discourse on the probability of economic and social disorder, ending with "We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States," a bank employee told the Secret Service.

The next day, Murray withdrew the remaining $72,000 and closed his account.

In Washington, Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said Murray offered no resistance when he was arrested at 7 p.m. Friday on a warrant in the parking lot of the Riverside Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nev. Wiley wouldn't offer any further details. It wasn't clear if Murray had a lawyer.

___

Associated Press writer Kathleen Hennessey in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Comments

[ThePen]

Great that Murray was caught. Even greater that a citizen did their duty to report the threat against President Obama to the proper authorities.

I fear, however, that this will not be the last threat made against President Obama and that it will take all of us working together as concerned citizens to make sure such threats never become a reality.

Perhaps we should organize public citizen committees to protect President Obama nation wide. The committees could work in conjunction with local and federal authorities where training could be provided to the committees by the proper authorities on how best to identity and report potential threats made against President Obama. In fact, maybe even have a nation wide 1-800 number to call in order to report such threats. Perhaps something to think about...

[gr8abz]

Good Idea. I'd sign up. Meanwhile, what kind of country do we live in where a nutcase like this can get eight registered guns!!!???

[robin50]

The likes of Bill O'Riley, Rush and their guests did all they could do to instigate this kind of thing. Why wasn't they arressted and detained for mentioning assassination and Barrack O'bama? This right wing propoganda should have been nipped in the bud before it happened.

[Mygirl]

I think they should arrest all of these people in the media and anywhere else who are doing this psycho talk and insiteing hatered.

[PerryLogan]

Didn't candidate Obama say something about bitter people clinging to their guns?

Swine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNy7z_mlA7E

[nox4bs]

Everyone came down on him for making that comment and I was like, what part of that comment did he lie about? He told the truth and the Repugs and Hillary tried to punish him for it.

[Ted LPD]

GOP sent him. Or... let me use a brush... Republicans sent him.

[Silent Edge]

Does he have heterochromia?

[ConfuciusSay-]

Excellent pick up!

[Zengeist]

Does look like a face made for jail.

[MisterHands]

It's a face only the GOP could love...

[digdeeper]

Can't judge this one at all. I am sure there are people out there who would like Obama to be no more.
Better be careful, remember the expression "cry wolf"

[GetoffMylawn]

Darth Cheney has a long list of 'Crazy' lone gunmen, like sleeper agents waiting to be switched on.

[ZimboChick]

He is not well but he had 82K....wow...maybe the do get paid by the click after all. I am not saying u can not make money if u have a mental disorder but then his dad is making him out to be a complete l00n3y

[Betrayed]

I'd be wiling to bet he simply saved and didn't piss it away.

BUT NOT ME!!!

[heartsick]

Where did he get $82 grand? Sounds like a conspiracy is afoot to me.

[Rattlecan]

So it's the insane people who have the large savings accounts!
Go figure.

[Betrayed]

Beautiful

Poetic Justice!!

[lisabahamas]

My thought exactly!
Remember that old saying? It's us 'sane' (broke) people who are "Buying things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't like"

[scjk67]

*repeat*
-------BRAIN DAMAGE------

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to kee[ the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if you head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
you re-arrange me till I'm sane

You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me

And if the cloud burst, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.

[NormDePleum]

Even crazy people have 2nd Ammendment rights, but what's troubling is this guy was able to walk around with $85K without having a guardian to control such an amount. Crazy people do not *need* $85K!

[scjk67]

i suffer from schizophernia, theres 5 types of it. theres a huge problems here in the US of people who has mental illness that are not documented. i had this problem for years before i gotten any treatment for it because states don't want to deal with it but rather have you locked up and then released with no medications. i got ssi and ssd with medicare and medicade to keep me inline by taking medications. it took nearly four years to get it, the problem is that the government either state or federal don't want to deal with it. its time for the single payer health care, where everybody will get treated equally, people who needs medicines for whatever the problems they have and so forth. like i said i suffered and barely gotten rescued before i lost it. sorry for the dude got arrested for stupity that went into the his mind, and gladly have to say that i blame the media for this! that includes the reichwing as Hannity, Rush, Beck, and all the Fox News cabals!! believe me i had my share of looking around for microphones that i thought Bush and Cheney left around my house!

[scjk67]

i suffer from schiziphernia, theres 5 types of it. theres a huge problems here in the US of people who has mental illness that are not documented. i had this problem for years before i gotten any treatment for it because states don't want to deal with it but rather have you locked up and then released with no medications. i got ssi and ssd with medicare and medicade to keep me inline by taking medications. it took nearly four years to get it, the problem is that the government either state or federal don't want to deal with it. its time for the single payer health care, where everybody will get treated equally, people who needs medicines for whatever the problems they have and so forth. like i said i suffered and barely gotten rescued before i lost it. sorry for the dude got arrested for stupity that went into the his mind, and gladly have to say that i blame the media for this! that includes the reichwing as Hannity, Rush, Beck, and all the Fox News cabals!! believe me i had my share of looking around for microphones that i thought Bush and Cheney left around my house!

[ThanksMatt]

Troubled, but is the registered owner of eight guns!

Oh sure, freedom is everything.

Yet I find America should reshape gun laws just a little bit and require for example annual mental health check ups to prolong the permission to possess a weapon.

I always wonder how many guns are used for self-defense and how many times they are used for violent attacks. Just asking.

[Norge]

ThanksMatt,

I agree with part of your comment, for the pentagon "annual mental health check ups to prolong the permission to possess weapons.-:)

[digdeeper]

Good one Mat. It is truly amazing how "The right to bear arms" has been twisted into "The right to kill"
How come there is no investigation into a person's mental health before they get a licence, how increditble is that?

[robin50]

Eight really doesn't seem like a large number. Anyone can register that many. and if he was going to use these guns in breaking the law, they wouldn't have been registered. I have 36 guns. I like shooting and collecting. This do not make me a killer.

[ravencalling]

I don't think this troubled young man would have cared whether or not they were registered if he were to use them. There are perfectly normal people with guns who legally collect them like you, and do not commit crimes. There are those who legally collect them and even have permits, who use them illegally, and then there are those who have guns illegally. There is such a thing as people snapping who previously were fine - and then they also happen to have an arsenal at home. Never a comforting thought.