LETHEM, Guyana, April 4 (UPI) -- Police in Guyana say they arrested an Irish teenager who says his threat to shoot the president during an alcohol-fueled confrontation with security was a joke.
Cillian James Crosson, 17, was drinking at a club in Lethem Friday when two men told him they were bodyguards for Guyana President Donald Ramotar, the Irish Independent reported Thursday.
The teen's lawyer, Glenn Hanoman, said Crosson was joking when he said he would shoot and kill the president of the South American country, and only made the threat because he didn't believe the men were the president's bodyguards.
Hanoman said alcohol "was the main factor at play when he argued with two of the guards."
Crosson was out on bail of about $280 and was ordered to report to the Lethem police station every Monday, the newspaper reported. He faces a maximum fine of about $1,020.
Crosson is in Guyana until August volunteering to teach in a remote area with Project Trust, the Independent said. He is expected to complete his year-long commitment to the program as planned.
"His relationship with the Guyanese people and his commitment to the project is undiluted. He is enjoying it," a family friend told the Independent.
