Oct 22, 2009 3:24 am US/Eastern
NJ Man Arrested For Alleged Threat Against Obama
55-Year-Old Private Security Guard Accused Of Terroristical Threats Against President; 43 Guns Found At His NJ Home
NEWARK (CBS) ―
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US President Barack Obama announces a package of initiatives that will increase credit to small businesses while visiting Metropolitan Archives in Landover, Maryland on October 21, 2009.
JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Was the president in danger?
A New Jersey man will appear in court Thursday for threatening Barack Obama's life.
Police arrested John Brek, a security agent at Newark Liberty International Airport, hours before the president arrived there on Wednesday.
Normally Brek would've been patrolling the grounds at the airport, but now he's behind bars and it may have been a confluence of events that put him there.
President Obama flew into Newark on Wednesday night, the same airport where Brek works for a security company. That combined with his alleged threats against Obama may have been too much for authorities to ignore.
"He's very upset with the country, with the way it's going and I'm upset about it, too," said Leonard Parsons, the suspect's landlord.
Leonard and Minnie Parsons have been Brek's landlords for 11 years and point to his apartment door covered with a "God Bless America" sign and a flag as evidence he's no threat.
"I go to these different clubs and they criticize Bush. They say they'd like to kill him and this and that," Leonard Parsons said.
"If you don't hear the situation, it could be twisted, too," Minnie Parsons added.
But the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police felt Brek crossed the line when he spoke to a co-worker about Obama on Tuesday.
On Wednesday night a Secret Service spokesperson told CBS 2 HD Brek "is alleged to have made threats against the President of the United States, but I don't have specificity about what he allegedly had said."
After the National Rifle Association member gave police permission to search his home, they found more than 40 legally owned guns.
"It don't make sense to me. It sounds terrible," said John Brek Jr., the suspect's father.
Linden neighbors said they don't really know the 55-year-old.
"He'll just say hi or wave or something but he don't talk too much to anybody," neighbor Maria Mendes added.
That his arsenal was discovered is a relief for others.
"I understand he's a nice guy, but you know, at the end of the day, nice people can turn bad real quick," neighbor Brenda Camacho said.
Brek is accused of making terroristic threats, which he has denied.
Making terroristic threats is not a federal charge but a local one filed by the Port Authority. So far the agency has not explained exactly what Brek said but we should hear details during Thursday's arraignment.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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