American charged over bid to kill Obama

AN IDAHO man accused of firing an assault rifle at the White House was charged yesterday with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama or his staff, and prosecutors say he called Obama “the devil” and said he needed to be killed.

Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, of Idaho Falls, made his first court appearance before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh yesterday, one day after he was arrested at a western Pennsylvania hotel.

According to a court document released after the hearing, authorities recovered nine spent shell casings from Ortega’s car, which was abandoned near the White House.