Man Threatens To Take Over Courthouse With Gun

A Georgia man who was reportedly on his way to Madisonville with weapons has been arrested in Tennessee by the FBI.

Authorities say he headed to Madisonville, armed and prepared to take over the Courthouse, according to a story on wbir.com.

Darren Huff stands charged of traveling in interstate commerce with intent to incite a riot and transporting in commerce a firearm in furtherance of a civil disorder.

Huff is one of the supporters of Walt Fitzpatrick, a Sweetwater man who has been intent on indicting President Barack Obama. In April, Fitzpatrick tried to make a citizen's arrest of the grand jury foreman and several other Monroe County officials.

Fitzpatrick was scheduled to be in General Sessions Court on May 3 on charges of inciting to riot, disturbing a meeting, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

Fitzpatrick's initial court date was April 20 and FBI officials say Huff didn't want Fitzpatrick to go to trial, so he planned to head to Tennessee.

FBI agents interviewed Huff at his home on April 19, and Huff said he would be traveling to Tennessee to help Fitzpatrick get the charges against him dropped. Huff told agents there would be no violence unless they were provoked into violence.

Still, he told agents he planned to travel with his Colt .45 handgun and AK-47 rifle.

The FBI says Huff traveled to Tennessee armed with a pistol on his hip and an assault rifle in his truck, intent on carrying out citizen's arrests of 24 federal, state, and local officials, and on seeing that Fitzpatrick did not face trial for trying to do the same.

FBI agents observed Huff leaving his home around 6:15 the morning of April 20. Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers pulled him over in Sweetwater for traffic violations of traffic control device, registration law, and following too closely.

Huff told the troopers he planned to travel to Madisonville to take over the courthouse, to arrest the people on Fitzpatrick's warrants-who he termed "domestic enemies of the United States engaged in treason"-and to turn those arrested over to state police to place in jail.

The troopers said Huff told them if they didn't have enough people on April 20 to do all they planned on that day, they'd be back in one to two weeks.

The troopers said Huff also told them he was ready to die for his rights and what he believed in, and that he would not consent to a search of his truck.

Then on April 21, Huff recorded a radio broadcast, talking about his traffic stop and saying he had weapons and ammunition with him.

As a result, the FBI believes Huff had both the intent and means to carry out threats of violence.

He was charged with traveling in interstate commerce from Georgia to Tennessee with intent to incite a riot and transported in commerce a firearm to be used unlawfully in furtherance of a civil disorder.

He's on bond, under house arrest.

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