A Mississippi man has been arrested and is under investigation for the attempted assassination of President Obama, as well as two other targeted officials.
While threats of bombings and harming the president are nothing new to this country, these actions went far beyond empty words this week. In the wake of the Boston Marathon tragedy, a letter addressed to President Obama was tested positive for ricin, authorities stated on Wednesday.
The letter, which was received at a mail screening facility on Tuesday, was tested by authorities after an unknown, coarse substance was found within the letter. Ricin is a natural poison found in castor beans. While in its natural state it is not harmful, it can be turned into a lethal substance when partially purified. Ricin can be deadly when ingested, injected or in the case of the letter addressed to the president, inhaled (bt.cdc.gov)
President Obama was not the only target. On Tuesday, a letter addressed to Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker was also tested positive for ricin at a Maryland mail processing facility (chicagotribune.com). A third letter, addressed to an unnamed Mississippi official also tested positive for the substance. Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, of Corinth Mississippi was arrested in his home Wednesday afternoon after the FBI Task Force, as well as multiple government agencies conducted an investigation.
Curtis, an Elvis Presley impersonator, wrote in the letters to the president and the senator, “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.” He then signed the letters “I am KC and I approve this message.”
Ricky Curtis, Kevin Curtis’s cousin, said that Kevin felt like the government had not treated him well. He went on to say that no one in the Curtis family would have expected these thoughts to result in action (.foxnews.com).e
While there is no relation between the Boston Marathon Bombing and the letters laced with ricin, both incidents are still undergoing separate investigations.