E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSWASHINGTON -- A federal grand jury handed down a 17-count indictment Tuesday against a man for allegedly trying to assassinate President Barack Obama at the White House.
Authorities said that on Nov. 11, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez used an assault rifle with an attached scope to fire shots at the White House from his vehicle. Two bullets and one bullet fragment were recovered from the grounds of White House, including one that was stopped by bulletproof glass. Investigators found five bullet impact points on the south side of the building on or above the second story, where the first family resides.
Read the original story on NBCWashington.com
Obama and his wife, Michelle, were out of town that evening.
Besides being charged with one count of attempt to assassinate the president, Ortega-Hernandez was also charged with three counts of assaulting an officer or employee of the U.S. with a deadly weapon, another count of injury to property of the United States, five counts of using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence and one count of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition.
Click here to read the full indictment
Friends and associates told investigators that Ortega-Hernandez -- a 21-year-old Idaho Falls, Idaho native -- has long been obsessed with Obama and referred to the president as the Antichrist, according to the Associated Press. Ortega, who has shoulder-length dark hair and a long beard, called himself “the modern-day Jesus Christ” and told at least one person he intended to kill the president, authorities allege, the AP reported.
He was arrested on Nov. 16 at a hotel in Indiana, Pa., where he had stayed with friends before the shooting, the AP reported.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News