White House Shooter Believed He's Jesus, Obama 'Antichrist'
A 21-year-old Idaho man who allegedly fired shots at the White House in an apparent attempt to assassinate President Barack Obama believed he is the modern-day Jesus and Obama is the Antichrist, according to case documents and a video he sent to the Oprah Winfrey show.
“It’s not just a coincidence that I look like Jesus,” the suspect, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, said in a video he sent to Oprah Winfrey in an attempt to get on her show. “I am the modern day Jesus Christ that you all have been waiting for.”
Clad in black and wearing a cross, Ortega-Hernandez read from a notebook charging America with “fighting … or should I say bullying … those other countries for their oil our freedom is at stake.”
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A federal court in Pittsburgh Thursday charged the man from Idaho Falls with attempting to assassinate President Obama or his staff, according to The Associated Press. Court documents released the same day say Ortega-Hernandez told a friend he believed Obama was the Antichrist and needed to be killed.
Ortega-Hernandez fired several shots with a semi-automatic rifle at the White House from a street, cracking a window close to the President’s bedroom, last Friday. President Obama and his wife, Michele, were on a nine-day tour to the Asia Pacific region at the time and no one was hurt.
The unedited video he sent to the Oprah show reveals the suspect believed Obama had “deceived” the people of America. “Our government deceives the American people so that us and the army can go steal other countries’ goods – oil,” he said. “I have never felt so sure I was sent here from God to lead the world to Zion.”
Ortega-Hernandez said America was a “bully” as it been powerful for very long. He also spoke against drug abuse in the country. He said, “I am the perfect candidate to get casted onto your show,” and requested Oprah Winfrey not to “underestimate me” or “take me as a joke.”
He claimed that God had been speaking to him through his thoughts and given him all the experiences there are for human beings. God, he added, had taught him how to react to developments around him, and that he had a “guardian angel.”
The suspect, whose family had reported him missing last month, was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police at a hotel near Indiana Wednesday. Investigators reportedly found a Romanian-made semi-automatic assault rifle with a scope, three magazines loaded with 7.62 x 39 mm cartridges, nine spent shell casings, brass knuckles, and an aluminum baseball bat in his black Honda Accord.
If convicted, the suspect could face life in prison.
Francisco Martin Duran, the man who fired 29 shots at the White House in 1994 and was convicted of the attempted murder of President Bill Clinton, is serving a 40-year prison sentence.
