Armed Washington Man Arrested in alleged threat against President Obama

the secret service on tuesday arrested a washington state man accused of making an e-mail threat against president barack obama & brandishing a shotgun at officers who came to his door. anton calouri, 31, was arrested at an apartment in this south seattle suburb for investigation of making threats against the commander-in-chief & assault on a federal officer, said brian leary, a secret service spokesman in washington, d.c.

u.s. attorney spokeswoman emily langlie said the threat was sent to a general purpose federal bureau of investigation (fbi) e-mail address. the fbi then notified the secret service, said leary. he refused to discuss the nature of the threat but federal way spokeswoman cathy schrock said she understood it was a threat to kill the president.    

a secret service agent & a federal way police officer went to an apartment in a four-plex at the panther ridge apartments, knocked & announced themselves for about three minutes. they faced a man armed with a shotgun when the door opened. "the shotgun was coming up to point in the direction of the agents...the two officers were able to close in & take control of the weapon before anyone was harmed," said schrock. the officers also seized a gun in the man's ankle holster.

because the resident made statements about explosive devices in the apartment, the federal way bomb squad was called to evacuate the four-plex & sweep it for explosives; but none were found said schrock. a woman who identified herself as renee - calouri's mother - told a local tv station at the apartment scene, "i don't know a whole lot...how would you feel if your son got arrested? never got arrested, was in the military, has a college education. and i'm just a little bit upset & shocked."

schrock said she understood calouri's mother lived in her son's apartment. the spokeswoman said the mother was allowed back in their apartment briefly to get some personal belongings. her location was not known tuesday night. federal agents began searching the unit after the all-clear tuesday evening concern for explosives. calouiri was scheduled to appear in court wednesday at 2:00 pm.