[MI] Man arrested for alleged murder plot

[tyme]

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/mich...C_MI--WeaponsSuspect&&news&newsflash-michigan
[blockquote] A source told investigators Somerville was attempting to mount a machine gun onto a Jeep and that he wanted to cause an auto accident, then ambush and kill police when they responded, said the papers filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.

"According to his close associates, Mr. Somerville is filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine gun bullets," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd K. Meyer said in a motion and brief urging that Somerville remain jailed without bond until trial.
...
Last July, a "confidential source" told state police that "Somerville, his girlfriend and a few others are members of a self-styled radical militia unit who were very upset about the death of Mr. Scott Woodring," Meyer said.

Woodring, 40, a one-time militia member, killed a state trooper July 7 during a standoff at his home in Newaygo County, where officers were trying to serve a warrant charging him with criminal sexual conduct.

He apparently slipped away from his home and was shot dead by police six days later.
...
Aside from "considerable stores" of food, gunpowder and marijuana, agents found numerous publications and papers including military field and technical manuals, the document said. They dealt with subjects such as booby traps, guerrilla warfare and incendiaries.

Also found were videos with titles such as "America: Wakeup or Waco" and "9/11, the Road to Tyranny."

The document said agents who inspected Somerville's property following his arrest found photographs of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with the crosshairs of a high-powered rifle scope drawn over their heads.

Somerville was being investigated by Secret Service agents "who had information that Mr. Somerville had stated over a ham radio that he was going to dispatch assassination teams to target President Bush," it said.

The ATF has obtained records showing that Somerville served in the U.S. Army from 1978-84 and was trained as an intelligence analyst, Meyer said. For part of that time, he was assigned to Special Forces groups at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Fort Meade, Md. [/blockquote]
Wonderful.

 

[DigitalWarrior]

More Spin than a record player

http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1066402152183970.xml

Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush

Friday, October 17, 2003

By Ed White
The Grand Rapids Press

It was a rural arsenal fit for war.

After the peaceful arrest of a Cadillac-area man, authorities who searched his 40-acre compound discovered a stunning collection of firepower, including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 550 rounds per minute up to four miles away.

A van and a Jeep Cherokee, described by the suspect as his "war wagons," had machine guns inside, with one "locked, loaded and ready to go," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Meyer said. We carry assault pistols locked, loaded and ready to go every day

Agents found an underground bunker, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of pounds of gunpowder and manuals on guerrilla warfare, "booby traps" and explosives. If they came into my office (basement) they would find out all that since gunpowder is an explosive, in addition to numerous hacking manuals

There were chilling pictures of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with the cross-hairs of a high- powered rifle scope drawn over them, Meyer said. How can you tell that the scope was from a high-powered rifle. Seriously, bad taste yes; criminal no

Norman Somerville, 43, was arrested last week on federal gun and drug charges as he shopped at Home Depot in Cadillac. Authorities then spent the weekend combing his property in Wexford County's Antioch Township, about 20 miles northwest of Cadillac.

Details of the search were disclosed in a court document filed Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids, four days before a judge will decide whether Somerville should remain in jail while his case is pending.

Somerville was "filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine-gun bullets," Meyer said, quoting informants. He belongs to a "self-styled radical militia unit" whose members are upset over the death of Scott Woodring, the prosecutor said.

Woodring was the Newaygo County man fatally shot by state police during the summer, days after a trooper died while trying to serve him with an arrest warrant.

State police were told in September that Somerville wanted to cause a car accident, then "ambush and kill" any responding officers with a machine gun mounted in his Jeep, Meyer wrote in the court document.

An unidentified source, described as one of Somerville's "trusted associates," feared he had become "mentally unbalanced and would kill an innocent person or be killed," Meyer said.

Somerville may face additional charges linked to the search of his property, although Meyer declined to elaborate.

Two years ago, Somerville moved to Wexford County from elsewhere in northern Michigan. He served in the Army from 1978 to 1984 and was trained as an intelligence analyst assigned to the elite Special Forces.

During a brief court appearance last week in Grand Rapids, Somerville said: "The people will have their day. ... There's a quiet civil war going on in the country."

In Antioch Township, five miles outside Mesick, neighbors said he is not the type to share a cup of sugar.

"We told our kids to stay off his property. There was gunfire a lot," said Lynda Sherburne, a former township clerk who lives nearby. "Who knows where the stray bullets are going.

"He got angry very easily. No contact with him was the best contact."

Sherburne said her nephew's house shook as state and federal authorities detonated explosives found on Somerville's property.

"I don't think anyone realized he was stockpiling back there," she said.