Why didn't I hear of this until now?

[fpb]

ROCKVILLE, Md. - Police investigating a teenager accused of bomb-making and weapons violations found a map of Camp David with a presidential motorcade route in his home, a Montgomery County prosecutor said.
Collin McKenzie-Gude, 18, of Bethesda, also had a document that appears to describe how to kill someone 200 meters away, Montgomery Assistant State's Attorney Peter A. Feeney said.

The teen had two forms of fake identification — one portraying him as a Central Intelligence Agency employee and another as a federal contractor, Feeney said. The details were revealed Tuesday

District Court Judge J. Michael Conroy kept McKenzie-Gude in jail on a $750,000 bond, reduced from $1 million. The teen faces charges of weapons violations, possession of explosives and attempted carjacking.

Authorities said they found 50 pounds of chemicals, assault-style weapons and armor-piercing bullets in his home. The investigation has expanded to include the CIA, FBI and Secret Service.

A 17-yr-old was also involved, and they knocked down a 78 yr old man while trying to get the man's car keys and steal his car. They also had a list of teacher's home addresses.

Comments

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I swear that this seems to validate all the Republican complaints about the media. This is not political, it is a matter of journalistic business sense: since when is an attempted assassination of a serving President of the United States of America not news?

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Perhaps because it's not an attempted assassination until they actually attempt to do it? In the meantime it's a pair of psychotic teenagers with delusions of grandeur and a plan whereby they could potentially attempt an assassination.

I'm actually more worried about the fake IDs than the map and 'document'.

I wouldn't be surprised if the press had been asked to under report things like this in order to NOT generate a bunch of copycats.

[fishlivejournal.livejournal.com]

So: when did this happen, and how did you find out about it?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

It is said to have taken place in the week-end, and I found out about it from Little Green Footballs, in the context of another story about a man who wanted to kill both Obama and Bush. The commentators themselves said that until one googled Camp David, it was very hard to have the story confirmed; almost nobody reported it. Now, either it is a hoax, or else this is the greatest case of missing a hot story in the history of journalism.

[stigandnasty919.livejournal.com]

Even Fox News did not have this story.... At least not in the last couple of days.

(I usually watch for a while before I come to work in the morning, nothing like a bit of righteous indignation to set you up for the day)

[bdunbar.livejournal.com]

I don't know that this is, really, a big deal at the national level.

He had a map - how detailed? Of what? Camp David is in the middle of a state park - maps of the area are freely available. Granted they don't describe the facility - only a road going to the place.

"a document that appears to describe how to kill someone 200 meters away"

And that is .. a how-to? A book? I've had documents like that - training material distributed by the Marines. Not classified, just basic tactics.

Okay, the weapons, the bombs - that's a big deal, if the intent is to go nuts with them. On the other hand, the weapons might be legal - we don't know.

I get the sense from the article you quoted that this was stuff the prosecutors tossed in because they could.

It looks like a couple of whacked kids who wanted to do a Columbine. This is news but it's hardly 'stop the press' news, these days.

[expectare.livejournal.com]

assault-style weapons

I thought all weapons were designed for assault?

and armor-piercing bullets

you mean, like, any rifle bullet over a .22 caliber?

[fishlivejournal.livejournal.com]

not a weapons expert, but IIRC:
assault weapons are rifles that can operate as semi- or fully automatics.

Bullets are either armour piercing or manstopper, depending on they are designed to flatten on impact (does more damage to an unarmoured opponent, but bounces off armour) or retain their shape (doing slightly less damage due to the smaller hole, but more likely to penetrate armour). The only reason for an ordinary citizen to have armour piercing bullets is for assassination attempts: hunting, self-defence etc are better served by bullets that flatten.

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

Legally speaking, Congress basically designated any gun that *looks* like an assault rifle as one; simi-auto or not.

Probably, they had simi-auto hunting rifles.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

And suppose you were wrong and they had AK47s and Uzis? As someone else pointed out, what is really troubling is the presence of fake ID. Ordinary kids, even playing out some fantasy, do not produce fake IDs for fun.

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

Main reason I don't think they had them: if they had, it would've been on the news to prove that we need to ban guns. -.- Uzis and AK47s look *really* scary, and they'd be able to use stock footage.

I'm more worried that they had a federal contractor badge-- that means that they'd done enough research to know that would get them further than the CIA badge.

Far as I'm concerned, this *is* a case of conspiracy to commit assassination-- they had the plan, they had the equipment (ability), and they got caught trying to *get transportation.* Some folks I've seen talking about this seem to think it can't be an attempt unless a bullet is fired...

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

Side note: simi-auto hunting rifles are most commonly used to kill deer-- preferably in one shot.

Not a bad choice if you're trying to kill a human. (and it's already been shown that psychos can kill folks with a .22)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Psychos can kill folks with a kitchen knife or with a piece of sporting equipment. But I agree with you. Which is why I find it so extraordinary that the media do not seem exercised by the news. No matter that he's a lame duck, no matter whether he is unpopular, an attempt at murdering the President of the US ought to be treated as a monumental scoop. I can just imagine what the British press would have made of it, had it happened here.

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

*shrug* Eeeeevil Booooosh bias, that's all.

It's really becoming embarrassing.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Hey, the Italian media don't like Berlusconi, but when someone slapped him, it was front page news.

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

FPB....do they "not like," or "think that they are an embodiment of evil"? Especially when it's one of the few evils they'll allow existing....

I heard about it.

[johncwright.livejournal.com]

I live in radio distance of the District of Columbia (just across the river from Maryland) and so I had heard all about this on conservative talk radio.