Barack Obama assassination plot in Denver

Shawn Robert Adolf, Tharin Robert Gartrell and Nathan Dwaine Johnson plotted to assassinate Barack Obama, then the 2008 Democratic Party presidential nominee. The trio allegedly planned to shoot Senator Obama with a high-powered rifle during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

The alleged motive for the attempted assassination was a white supremacist belief that an African American should not be elected President of the United States. Gartrell was arrested August 24, 2008, and found to be in possession of rifles and other weaponry; Adolf and Johnson were arrested shortly thereafter. In a televised interview after his arrest, Johnson identified Adolf as the man who allegedly hatched the assassination plot and planned to be the shooter.

Although their suspected white supremacist affiliations led federal authorities to investigate possible ties to a larger group, authorities later downplayed the trio as drug addicts who had little chance of carrying out the plot. The three men were charged with drug and weapons charges, but did not face federal charges of threatening a presidential candidate.

In August 2008 Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28, his cousin Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, and their friend Nathan Dwaine Johnson, 32, allegedly came to Denver, Colorado, specifically to kill then-Senator Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention. The men came to Denver before Obama arrived there, and rented a room at the Hyatt Regency, where they mistakenly believed Obama was staying (in fact, Obama was staying at another Denver hotel). Federal authorities began an investigation into the trio after they made alleged racist threats against Obama while taking methamphetamine in the hotel room. A woman present for their conversation, who was not identified by a police affidavit, told Colorado State Patrol officers they "could not believe how close he was to becoming President". they spoke about killing the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, and that Adolf allegedly said, "No nigger should ever live in the White House." A woman in the group said it would be a "suicide mission", and it would be best done by hiding a gun inside a hollowed-out television video camera, a method used in the 1992 Kevin Costner film, The Bodyguard. Security had already been increased for Obama due to low-grade fears of possible assassination attempts against the first African American major party presidential candidate. Authorities did not identify the woman who informed on the trio, nor did they disclose whether she was charged with a crime.

Gartrell was driving to buy cigarettes when he was arrested at about 1:30 a.m. on August 24. Police in Aurora, Colorado, a suburb east of Denver, pulled over his rented 2008 blue Dodge Ram truck, which was swerving erratically. Police found a Ruger Model M77 Mark II .22-250 bolt-action rifle with an attached scope and bipod, and a Remington Model 721 270 bolt-action rifle with an attached hunting scope. One of the rifles was fitted with a silencer. Police also found two wigs, three fake IDs, camouflage clothing, a bulletproof vest, two walkie-talkies and 4.4 grams of what appeared to be methamphetamine in the truck. The truck contained enough drug-making equipment for the vehicle to be considered "a mobile lab". At least one of the rifles had been reported stolen. Gartrell was under the influence of methamphetamine when arrested. He was found to be driving on a suspended license, and was carrying a false Colorado identification card with a Centennial, Colorado address. Gartrell was using crutches at the time of his arrest.

"He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot."

Gartrell told an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that the weapons belonged to his cousin Adolf, and he led police to the hotels where Adolf and Johnson were staying. Johnson was arrested at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center, at about 4:30 a.m. Adolf was arrested at the Cherry Creek Hotel in Glendale at about 5 a.m. Adolf jumped out of a sixth-story hotel window when police arrived. He fell four stories onto the second-floor roof of the hotel kitchen, then jumped again onto the ground around the hotel. He broke his ankle in the fall, but tried to run before police found him a short distance away. Adolf, who was hospitalized shortly after his arrest, was wearing body armor when police apprehended him. He told police this was because "someone wanted to shoot him". Like Gartrell, Johnson and Adolf were found to be under the influence of methamphetamine during their arrests. During interviews with police, both men made racist statements similar to those allegedly made in their earlier hotel room discussions.

Johnson told the United States Secret Service he rented the Hyatt hotel room at Adolf's request and that he believed "without a doubt" that Adolf came to Denver to kill Obama. According to a police affidavit, "Johnson said the only reason for such killing would be because Obama is black." During an August 25 interview with KCNC-TV, a CBS owned-and-operated television station in Denver, Johnson first denied being personally involved with the plot and, when asked whether he felt the men had serious plans to go through with the assassination, he said, "Looking back at it, I don't want to say yes, but I don't want to say no." Eventually, however, he admitted the other two men had planned a killing when he said, "Yeah, they were here to do that, to assassinate him ... it's about as hard for me to swallow as it is for you to understand." Johnson said the plan was for Adolf to, "shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a [rifle] sighted at 750 yards". Johnson said the shooting was to take place during Obama's acceptance speech on August 28 at the Democratic National Convention in INVESCO Field at Mile High. Johnson told the station, "He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot."