NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana man facing a federal charge of threatening to kill President George W. Bush also threatened to blow up the White House, authorities said Tuesday.
A social worker told Secret Service agents that 44-year-old Gregory Broussard of Hammond was being treated in a hospital emergency room on Dec. 29 when he made the threats.
An agent wrote in court papers that Broussard told them “if the voice of God instructs him to kill the president, he would follow the instructions.”
The agents questioned Broussard at a psychiatric hospital in Lutcher, where they say he told them that he traveled to Baton Rouge last month to survey the state capitol and governor’s mansion in case President-elect Barack Obama visits.
“Broussard advised that during this reconnaissance he placed himself in the position of both a spotter and sniper in order to better protect (Obama) when he invites him to attend the Bayou Classic,” an agent wrote in the papers.
The Secret Service said it searched Broussard’s home and car and found a rifle, a digital camera with photos of the U.S. Naval Academy and a lease for an apartment in Annapolis, Md.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s said Broussard, who was arrested Tuesday, has been in a “custodial environment and not at large” since he was questioned by the Secret Service last month, but she wouldn’t elaborate.
Broussard faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted. Letten’s office said prosecutors will ask a federal magistrate to order Broussard detained. He is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court later Tuesday and Letten’s spokeswoman said she doesn’t know if Broussard has an attorney.
———Contact The Daily Reveille news staff at [email protected]