Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 10, 1993 TAG: 9303100310
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
TAPE ATTESTS TO PLAN TO KILL CLINTON, OTHERS
A gun dealer accused of threatening President Clinton said in a recorded interview with federal agents that other top government leaders and even first lady Hillary Clinton should be eliminated.Michael B. Shields, 28, said in the interview played in federal court Monday that he was worried about his business, the economy in general and Clinton's views on such issues as allowing homosexuals in the military.
"There's no question in my mind that people can be found willing to do it," Shields said of the mass assassinations idea. But he said he hadn't attempted to recruit anyone before he was arrested Feb. 23.
"This was in the early, formative stages," he said in the 75-minute interview played at his detention hearing. U.S. Magistrate Tommy Miller rejected any conditions for his release before indictment and trial.
In the interview with agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Shields called Clinton the worst thing to happen to America in 200 years. He said Vice President Al Gore was "no better than Clinton" and that Hillary Clinton "would have been a nice bonus" if she could be killed.
Speaking in calm, matter-of-fact tones, Shields also mentioned several senators as assassination targets. He was interviewed by agents seeking information about attempted illegal gun purchases.
Shields, president of Firearms International Inc. of Norfolk, acknowledged to the agents that he had been treated for depression last year and was taking medication.
He did not speak at the hearing but told his parents, George and Edith Shields, to "hang in there" as he was led from the courtroom. The couple offered to supervise their son during pretrial release.
Reuben Koller, a licensed clinical psychologist who examined Shields, said he does things in a "self-defeating" way, such as the interview with the agents, but that he is not a person who acts out his threats.
"Basically, he's attempting to be a martyr, and he's doing a very good job at it," Koller said.
Andrew Sacks, Shields' attorney, said his client would not be dangerous with supervision. "You heard the tape," Sacks said. "He wasn't angry. He wasn't shouting. He wasn't foaming at the mouth."
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Comstock said Shields was dangerous to anyone who disagrees with him politically.
Miller said the tape convinced him that it would be risky to release Shields. The detention hearing had been postponed from Feb. 25 to allow a psychological examination of Shields.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.