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.

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

Comments

[Owlygirl]

Why was he free to come to the bank the next day? One would think after that initial threat he'd be tossed in jail already. Thanks to the teller for turning him in, but what took so long?

[jesseandrews]

Exactly

[spiffarino]

Why would you toss him in jail? Better he go into the hospital and get on meds to help keep him from getting into such a state in the first place.

[jesseandrews]

Yes this guy sounds really dangerous, so dangerous that he was checked in at a hotel under his own name. He seems to be a sick man but if he said what they said he did then he needs to be locked up. I am a conservative that is in the center and believes in the @nd amendment, but people like this should never be allowed a gun. But what about the 4 converted Muslims that wanted to kill Jewish people and the 1 converted Muslim that wanted to kill soldiers and did kill one, then you have the one that killed Tiller and all of the ones where the father kills his family then himself. What is going on with our country, we need to stop the hate and greed and get back to helping people again, even if you do not agree with them.

[mikala]

The way we look at the second amendment is an answer. When some want to claim that the second amendment means no regulation then we will continue to get what we have now. If sensible people would realize that proper controls enforced could help eliminate some of this then we may begin to reduce the carnage. I love it when I hear only criminals commit these acts yet most of these people never committed any criminal act until they pulled that trigger. I don't want to remove all guns but all guns should not be available to all people.

[spiffarino]

You're just what this country needs again...a sensible conservative. And I say that as a lifelong liberal.

[landoffools]

troubled but not dangerous, known for strolling down a street wearing a cape while talking to himself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"not dangerous" ?

According to whom ?

Perhaps we just need to dig a hole, and bury this garbage !

[unhhockey]

Strolling down the street wearing a cape? Kind of like Frank Costanza's lawyer. He doesn't follow the TRENDS! (Come on, someone will get that reference!)

[creepsinc]

I got that reference. The guy in the cape was played by Larry David, incidentally.

[bosunj]

They hate us for our freedoms don't they!

[grasyknol]

Yep.

[jesseandrews]

If he said what they said he did then yes he needs to be locked up but from what has been said he is sick, why has no one helped him before this.

[CaliTLC]

Let's see:
1. Sick for the last 10 years;
2. Described by all as "Troubled";
3. Access to $85,000;
4. Walks down the street in a cape talking to himself;
5. The registered owner of 8 guns;
6. Openly threatens the life of the President; yet
7. Not dangerous
IN WHAT WORLD? UGH!! Thankfully the bank teller reported the threats.
BTW - where the eff did he get his hands on so much cash?

[jesseandrews]

Ask yourself why he was not helped before this and if he is sick like they said then why was he given a gun. I support the 2nd Amendment but it is to easy to get a gun.

[Betrayed]

He probably saved, unlike most of us.

[JPFranklin]

He saved cash, all in $50's or smaller? How big of a mattress did he keep that in?

[4State]

Sound like a description of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Suggestion: follow the money. (.....KBR? KGB? Cheney's bunker?)

The mentally ill need help, not assignments.

[maisnon55]

guns guns guns guns guns.......Make sure you have your damn guns!!!!!!!!!!! Personally, I really could go for a country that splits along gun lines..........I would love to live in one that has NO guns...I don't go along with the killing of animals for sport, either.........that is no sport!

you take your guns, I will HAPPILY live in a place that dosn't have them..........

[JPFranklin]

It would only be a sport if the animals had guns too.

[unhhockey]

It's called Canada! (And they like hockey, too!)

[chlllfactor]

I grew up in a hockey town in Minnesota. And I LOVE hockey. Our high school was dominate in the sport in my time - knocking other teams to the wayside as we marched to state playoffs. Something like what the Democratic Party is doing to the Republicans -knocking out the Republican Party one player at a time - 'course the Republicans are right in the thick of it - knocking themselves off.

[Betrayed]

Canada?
Never met her.
What does she look like?
What has she done?

[sodulguy]

actually we have lots of guns up here too, and little regulation of them.

[jesseandrews]

That would be nice a country and world that did not need guns, but unfortunately bad people will be able to get guns no matter what, imagine if no one had guns and some bad people came along like that movie with Snipes where he was a criminal from the past that was locked up in ice.

[unhhockey]

Has Gretchen Carlson figured out what 'ignoramus' means yet?

[vasta]

Look in the mirror Gretch.

[pangurban]

Absolute http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/06/06/tennessee-lawmakers/-lawmakers/

[houseafire]

Oh goodie, drunks and guns, a wonderful combination :(

This guy had 8 gun permits, taint that wonderful....and he was probably planning on staying a few nights at a National Pa rk on his way to kill President Obama....

[Syymone]

It's so troubling though not shocking as to how many times the 'A' word has been used about President Obama.......Change has not come to America as so many want to believe.

I feel that Hate Radio aka Limbaugh and others of similar ilk and Hate Network aka Fox have employed hosts that encourage the irrational fears of racists such as this clown Murray.It's just like the crazy nut that shot the doctor last week ,probably listened to O'Reilly rail against the doctor.The ironic thing is that O'Reilly tried to back away from his rhetoric because I suspect he fears a lawsuit and so does his network because the victim's family definitely can point to O'Reilly for inciting such hatred against the late doctor........

The Republicans will continue to have issues as long as many people see people like this Murray clown as "The face of The Party"........

[jesseandrews]

And what about hate msnbc and Moveon.org and The New Black Panthers and the animal rights groups that attack researchers home aqnd threathen their kids. hate on both sides is wrong, lets get over the hate and work together as Americans.

[chlllfactor]

Hate MSNBC? You were doing pretty good until that comment. You want hate - watch FAUX - they regurgitate it every day, every hour, every minute, every second.

[JPFranklin]

How many liberals have been arrested for assassination plots? And how many conservatives have been arrested for the same? Conservatives are violent by nature, that's why they like guns and torture.

[schoolmaster]

Those who try these methods must be considered antidemocratic, and must be snubbed and the sources supporting them must be disbanded.

[Betrayed]

I either hate or love what you said.
What exactly did you say?

[JPFranklin]

You're not good with reading comprehension are you?

[Max01]

Mind's going, eh? Bet you're walking the streets in a cape like Murray muttering to yourself much like you do on this site.

[Okieborn]

President Obama and his family are a blessing to this great nation !!
God Bless You Mr. President !!!

[Tyrione]

How many cape wearin', mentally disturbed adults traveling across the country have $85k in savings? Let me rephrase that question: How many sane adults have $85k in savings, let alone a mentally unstable person?

[JPFranklin]

Only one's with a corporate backing

[unhhockey]

News Corp.

[karinova]

That caught my eye, too.

Hey, I'm slightly unstable too! How do I go about getting $85K?!
What's the secret?
Does it have something to do with the cape?

[DLBSR]

The cape is where he hides the money when it's not in the bank. Where did he get the money? He was pulling CAPERS!

[joyce628]

wasn't Mike Huckabby the so called Baptise preacher who made the joke of President Obama being shot at the NRA meeting. Just recently there is another Baptise preacher very well known in the political circles and another deranged right wing nutcase, who is praying for the death of President Obama. These people are just plain racist. God is not mocked and he can strike them down with a bolt of lightening for inciting others to inflect violence on the elected president.

[unhhockey]

You mean the same one whose son tortures puppies?

[billyshakes]

Um...drew 85k then 72k? I guess Crazy pays well these days. I'm sure Glenn Beck makes a good chunka change as well.

[UsofA]

Nice work, Secret Service. Please watch over our President. The world needs him.

[GoldenAgeMaster]

If you want to get the WHOLE story about the man who supposedly wanted to kill Obama, go here... http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/breaking-news-man-captured/

[FrankinSac]

Now if it had been Limbaugh he was after... You go boy!

[baba2nde]

NO! Love them or hate them, all people deserve a full life.

[Betrayed]

Think about what you're saying.

[chlllfactor]

I do not agree - murder of ANYONE is never a solution.

[b93950]

Murder? Killing everyone at Fox News can only be described as a public service.

[Okieborn]

LOL !!

[AFAN]

Your wrong! I don't like Limbaugh but you don't take another person life!