UNITED NATIONS – A California man was in custody Friday after trying to enter a parking garage near U.N. headquarters with two firearms and a five-gallon container of gasoline in his car, U.N. and police officials said. Vernon Wilker, 59, from Salton City, California, told law enforcement authorities he had a property dispute in California and was coming to the United Nations to file a lawsuit, U.N. chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. | That would make him a left-coast leftist loonie. |
Wilker had not yet been charged and was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan criminal court, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan District Attorney's office said.
Wilker, driving a Ford Escort station wagon, was arrested Thursday after attempting to enter a garage under a hotel located across the street from the U.N. headquarters compound on Manhattan's East Side.
Told by a private guard at the garage entrance that his vehicle had to be searched, he asked if a permit was required to carry a .22-caliber revolver, then backed up and left the garage without being searched, Dujarric said. Wilker returned 10 minutes later and tried to run over the guard to force his way into the garage, Dujarric said. At that point, a U.S. Secret Service agent standing nearby apprehended the man and turned him over to New York police. | "One nut, ready for pickup!" |
Secret Service agents help provide security at the United Nations. |