Law Students

Barack Obama Death Threats: Walter Edward Bagdasarian

By Michael

Internet forum enthusiasts started becoming more cautious in rallying political comments by use of the World Wide Web after a Southern California citizen was charged after posting hostile and racially prejudiced comments online.

Walter Edward Bagdasarian, a resident of La Mesa, California, blatantly made online threats during the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. Bagdasarian calculated that the president-elect ?will have a 50 cal in the head soon?, sending sparks of hatred to Obama supporters online.

Death Threats on Yahoo! Finance

Bagdasarian, using his alias californiaradial, made online entries using the Yahoo finance board on October 22, 2008 saying, ?County fkd for another 4+ years, what nig has done ANYTHING right???? Long term???? Never in history, except sambos.? The post had an alarming title of ?Shoot the nig.? The message board heated up due to the offensive language in Bagdasarian?s message and was soon deleted by Yahoo. The Southern California man ended his comments stating, ?Fk the niggar, he will have a 50 cal in the head soon.?

The 47-year-old Bagdasarian had his house forayed by the United States Secret Service Agents November of last year. The agents found an armory of highly-destructive military weapons in the suspect?s house. Court documents also revealed that the weapons found in Bagdasarian?s home included injurious firearms such as three handguns and three rifles. The weapons carry advance specs counting a 30.06 rifle with a sniper magnification, excellent for sighting in targets. Agents were also able to locate a Remington .50 caliber muzzleloader, a rifle that can generate maximum velocity from magnum 150-grain charges.

Although the thread was already deleted in the Yahoo finance board, other websites including Google, show searches of other web surfers reacting against posts made by californiaradial. His comments were said to be irking and abusive.

Tracking Down Bagdasarian

United States Secret Service agents was able to track down Bagdasarian through the IP address used in the Yahoo comments. The suspect allegedly confessed to the crime that was made.

Walter Edward Bagdasarian was freed a month ago with a bond covering $100,000. His attorney has not given any public statement.

Research shows that this is not the first time a threat was received by the newly-elected president. In August of 2008, a citizen of Florida was also charged with the same case after commenting, ?That nigger, if he gets elected, I’ll assassinate him myself.?

Two mid-South men were also captured by federal authorities on October 2008. The supremacists plotted Obama?s assassination during his candidacy. Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman met on the internet the month before their capture. The plan included murdering 88 people and beheading 14 African-Americans.

In spite of the many threats, Barack Obama remains confident that United States Secret Service Agents hold his and his family?s protection. Obama believed, ?”I think what’s been striking about this campaign is the degree to which these kind of hate groups have been marginalized. That’s not who America is. That’s not what our future is.?

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• Thoughts on Getting on the Law Review Board

Full post as published by Law Vibe on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).