Police detain armed man near US president’s plane

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Car Rental News - 26/04/2010

 

North Carolina police arrested a man with a gun at an airport as the US president was departing.

North Carolina police arrested a man with a gun at an airport as the US president was departing.

Police in Asheville, North Carolina have arrested a man in the parking lot of an airport from which President Barrack Obama was due to depart.

The man, 23-year-old Ohio resident Joseph McVey, was seen carrying a gun as he got out of a car parked in a rental car return bay at the airport.

Air Force One - the official call sign of any aircraft carrying the US President - was due to fly Mr Obama to a memorial in West Virginia for 29 coal miners killed in a blast on 5 April.

Police say the suspect was immediately arrested and is being held at a county jail. He has already been charged with going armed in terror of the public and is being held on $100,000 bail.

The man’s car was apparently dressed to look like a police car, using police-style strobe lights, a siren and a dash-mounted camera, but McVey is not a law-enforcement officer.

McVey reportedly told police that he had heard the president was in town and wanted to meet him.

Police say their investigation continues and further charges are likely.

Police also stressed that the man was in a public area far from the president and the president was never in any danger.

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