Man Sought For Threatening Obama Arrested

A man who allegedly told bank tellers in Utah - while cleaning out his savings account - that he was on a mission to kill President Barack Obama has been arrested.

The Secret Service said Daniel James Murray, 36, was arrested Friday outside a casino in Laughlin, Nev., a gambling town 100 miles from Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona line.

Murray is originally from Rexford, N.Y., but has been traveling widely. He was charged Thursday with conveying threats while banking at Zions First National Bank in St. George, Utah, last month.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Bearnson, a federal prosecutor in Salt Lake City, where the felony charge was filed, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Murray remains in federal custody in Nevada and will get a court date there probably on Monday.

Murray was described by his father and former neighbors in Rexford as troubled but not dangerous - he was known to stroll down Blue Jay Way wearing a cape while talking to himself and gesturing.

"He's sick. He's been sick for about 10 years," Michael Murray, his father, told the Times Union of Albany, N.Y. "I hope they find him."

In charging documents filed Thursday, the Secret Service said Daniel Murray made bizarre statements while opening - and then closing within weeks - an $85,000 savings account.

First, he demanded to know if Zions First National Bank was solvent, saying, "I'm sure if citizens happen to lose their money, they will rise up and we could see killing and deaths," bank tellers told a Secret Service agent.

He returned to the bank eight days later on May 27 to take out some cash, but bank employees told him he lacked proper identification.

A branch manager relented after Murray said, "If I don't get this money, someone is going to die," court papers say.

As the teller counted out bills no larger than $50, Murray delivered a rambling discourse on the probability of economic and social disorder ending with, "We are on a mission to kill the president of the United States," a bank employee told the Secret Service.

The next day, May 28, Murray withdrew the remaining $72,000 and closed his account.

In Washington, Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said Murray offered no resistance when he was arrested at 7 p.m. Friday on a warrant in the parking lot of the Riverside Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nev. Wiley wouldn't offer any further details. It wasn't clear if Murray had a lawyer.
By Associated Press Writer Paul Foy; AP writer Kathleen Hennessey in Las Vegas contributed to this report