Police: Man planned to kill Bush, Cheney

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- An upstate New York man, who planned to assassinate George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, was arrested on the way to Washington, the Secret Service said.

Ian Rotunno, of Greece, N.Y., loaded his car with a shotgun, hunting knives, a flare gun, baseball bat and handcuffs in early October and set off to Washington, with plans to engage law enforcement and possibly kill the former vice president, the Secret Service told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

The Secret Service arrested Rotunno Oct. 7 and charged him this week with threats against a former president. The agency said he admitted that, besides killing Cheney, he intended to go to Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch and kill him also, a criminal complaint said.

A psychiatrist who interviewed Rotunno Tuesday at St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell, N.Y., said he probably would follow up on his threats if released, papers filed with the Western New York U.S. District Court indicated.

According to an affidavit filed by a Secret Service agent, Rotunno told a co-worker Oct. 7, "I'm grabbing my shotgun and heading to Washington, D.C."

After the agent called him, Rotunno turned himself in to police in Owego.