US veteran arrested on charge of threatening to kill Obama

A US veteran who kept loaded guns at his bedside has been arrested for threatening to kill President Barack Obama in a murder-suicide.

Michael Bowden, from South Carolina, told a nurse during a visit to a veterans’ clinic he “would like to shoot the president, then myself”, according to a criminal complaint.

Bowden said he was “thinking of travelling to Washington, DC, to shoot the president because he is not doing enough to help African Americans,” said a criminal complaint filed in a South Carolina court.

Secret Service spokes-man Edwin Donovan said Bowden is 77 and white. He was arrested on November 18.

Authorities searched Bowden’s home and found four fully loaded semi-automatic weapons near his bed, along with spare ammunition. They found another nine rifles, two shotguns and a handgun in the room of Bowden’s son, along with more weapons near the front door. Bowden was arrested on charges of threatening the president.

Picture: US President Barack Obama received 12 stitches in his lip after being injured during a basketball game yesterday. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president was accidentally struck by someone’s elbow. The president was given the stitches in the doctor’s office on the ground floor of the White House. Obama had travelled to Fort McNair with a group of family and friends for an early morning game of basketball. Picture: AP