Gun removed from home of man who wished to 'shoot' Trump; he claims misunderstanding

Warren resident's threat to shoot Trump at council meeting, gets visit from feds

A speaker at the Warren City Council meeting expressed his wish to shoot the president Tuesday night. One day later, he received a visit from federal investigators.

WARREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A man said he wanted to shoot the President during public comments at the Warren City Council meeting Tuesday night.  

The backstory:

Now that man, Wesley Arnold, is being investigated by the Secret Service. He claims it is all a big misunderstanding.

"I just gave the Service Service my picture I took," he said.

FOX 2: "You talked to the Secret Service?"

"They just left, they’re the ones that left before you got here," said Arnold, 80.

The Secret Service did remove a handgun from the home. 
 
FOX 2: "The Secret Service just left, they didn’t arrest you though."

"That may or may not happen we’ll see," he said, adding that he isn't worried. "No, I’m a harmless old man and I believe in freedom of speech and I believe in informing my city council ... (unintelligible).  

FOX 2: "That speech was a little bit threatening, wouldn't you think?"

"It turned out that way but ..." he said.

FOX 2: "You were going to kill the president?"

"No, no, no, this is the way it went down," Arnold said. "I'm in the habit of saying you shoot a headshot, or you shoot a picture rather than you take a picture."

FOX 2: "So when you said shoot, you meant by a camera, not a gun?"

"Of course," Arnold said.

FOX 2: "But you mentioned a gun?"

"No," he said.

During the meeting, Arnold mentioned  "A high-power ATL 36X arriving shortly," he said last night. "Which I hope to use to shoot the President of the United States. I’m not kidding."

But today in talking to FOX 2, he claimed it was a long distance lens for a camera.

"That can let you take a picture from a very long distance away," he said.

FOX 2: "But you can see why people would be confused?"

"Oh yeah, I blew it," Arnold said.

FOX 2: "Just so we’re clear. You don’t want to shoot President Trump?"

"No. Of course not," he said. "I have no intent of shooting any public official except with a telephoto lens."