Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush

The Grand Rapids Press ^ | Friday, October 17, 2003 | Ed White

[FourPeas]

Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush

Friday, October 17, 2003

By Ed White
The Grand Rapids Press

It was a rural arsenal fit for war.

After the peaceful arrest of a Cadillac-area man, authorities who searched his 40-acre compound discovered a stunning collection of firepower, including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 550 rounds per minute up to four miles away.

A van and a Jeep Cherokee, described by the suspect as his "war wagons," had machine guns inside, with one "locked, loaded and ready to go," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Meyer said.

Agents found an underground bunker, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of pounds of gunpowder and manuals on guerrilla warfare, "booby traps" and explosives.

There were chilling pictures of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with the cross-hairs of a high-

see MILITIA, A4

powered rifle scope drawn over them, Meyer said.

Norman Somerville, 43, was arrested last week on federal gun and drug charges as he shopped at Home Depot in Cadillac. Authorities then spent the weekend combing his property in Wexford County's Antioch Township, about 20 miles northwest of Cadillac.

Details of the search were disclosed in a court document filed Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids, four days before a judge will decide whether Somerville should remain in jail while his case is pending.

Somerville was "filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine-gun bullets," Meyer said, quoting informants. He belongs to a "self-styled radical militia unit" whose members are upset over the death of Scott Woodring, the prosecutor said.

Woodring was the Newaygo County man fatally shot by state police during the summer, days after a trooper died while trying to serve him with an arrest warrant.

State police were told in September that Somerville wanted to cause a car accident, then "ambush and kill" any responding officers with a machine gun mounted in his Jeep, Meyer wrote in the court document.

An unidentified source, described as one of Somerville's "trusted associates," feared he had become "mentally unbalanced and would kill an innocent person or be killed," Meyer said.

Somerville may face additional charges linked to the search of his property, although Meyer declined to elaborate.

Two years ago, Somerville moved to Wexford County from elsewhere in northern Michigan. He served in the Army from 1978 to 1984 and was trained as an intelligence analyst assigned to the elite Special Forces.

During a brief court appearance last week in Grand Rapids, Somerville said: "The people will have their day. ... There's a quiet civil war going on in the country."

In Antioch Township, five miles outside Mesick, neighbors said he is not the type to share a cup of sugar.

"We told our kids to stay off his property. There was gunfire a lot," said Lynda Sherburne, a former township clerk who lives nearby. "Who knows where the stray bullets are going.

"He got angry very easily. No contact with him was the best contact."

Sherburne said her nephew's house shook as state and federal authorities detonated explosives found on Somerville's property.

"I don't think anyone realized he was stockpiling back there," she said.

[activationproducts]

Do you think you have a constitutional right to your arsenal?

[MissAmericanPie]

The attacks on the second amendment have to do with guys like this. The Fed figgures that with a paid for standing army, the congress no longer needs to call on a citizens militia for defense. Therefore the only reason for stockpiling such weapons would be revolution, an option which, according to the most important document the "Declaration of Independence", leaves open to citizens, not the Fed, to decide.

So any attempt on the part of the Fed to disarm, even a guy like this, is against the mans rights according to our founding documents. How many women have been told that the police are helpless to assist them against a crazy husband making threats to kill her until or unless the deed is done? Yet the Fed has cast down that excuse and refuses to wait until a person like the man in this article, actually does something. Can't have it both ways, or maybe they can.

They would have a hard time getting a conviction with me on the jury is all I'm saying.

[SpellingTroll]

I thought the same things. We shot frequently on my parents' land when I was a teen. One afternoon while taking target practice my dad and I looked up to see one of our neighbor's hiking across the field in the middle of our shooting range. We'd just returned from setting up more targets and reloading. We'd been shooting for about fifteen minutes already, yet the wacko just wandered through. The wacko actually became angry when told to leave.

Oh yea, I've had run-ins with people must like that. I've had people who have returned to my property, even after being told face-to-face (and in no uncertain terms) to get off my land and not come back. Once, during the firearms deer season, some yutz came strolling along, dressed head-to-toe in camo (no blaze orange, as is required in MI). I told him to get off my land, and he had the guts to stand there and tell me "I'm just walking through." Talk about arrogant.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

It was a matter of time.

[seowulf]

So, would my truck be considered a mobile compoud/arsenal? Or would that be restricted to mobile homes?

[AppyPappy]

What makes it a "compound?"

Inhabited by a right-winger.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

Camo clad trailer trash is hardly a militia - its a punk rabble itching for the opportunity to shoot somebody.

[ArrogantBustard]

According to this "article", it's probably a "war wagon"...

That was a great John Wayne movie, BTW.

[FourPeas]

Exactly. This guy may be a nut-case, but considering that the Press felt it necessary to include a quote from a neighbor saying, "Who knows where the stray bullets are going.", this report isn't exactly a good example of impartiality.

[Fierce Allegiance]

the illuminati other some other hopeless stupidity Huh?

[MineralMan]

"Do you think you have a constitutional right to your arsenal?
"

Absolutely. I don't believe I have a constitutional right to own Anti-aircraft weapons. We have a very nice military that owns plenty of them. Sadly, I never got to fire any when I served.

[Ribeye]

I live on 4 fully fenced acres just 20 min north of Los Angeles.

We have 6 big doggies that run lose on the property and don't like strangers (like me).

We have two large gun safes and 1K to 2K rounds for every weapon in the house (this IS California after all!).

We have food and water for 6-12 months. (earthquakes, riots, bad economy, supermarket strikes etc).

Oh, and I'm a white, male conservative.

The L.A. Times would call my place a compound (as do I when joking with my friends). My wife and I have a funny name for it though. We call it a "ranch".

[from occupied ga]

It was a matter of time.

LOL You provide a level of amusment when you say stuff like this.

You know this for a fact do you? You believe everthing that you read that comes from "government informants" Hmmm federal gun and drug charges. They will have planted a couple of ounces of pot and they will "discover" that he has an "unregistered machine gun" (probably the drawings to make one - which the BATF oh so reasonably considers to be a machine gun.)

[activationproducts]

How do you know which calibers, cartirdges, and actions you should have a right to. Where do you draw the line? How do you know where to draw the line?

[Fierce Allegiance]

a ranch is what hollyweirdos buy. you live in a compound!

lol

[inquest]

We have a very nice military that owns plenty of them.

I don't think you're quite getting the point of this whole "second amendment" thing.

[headsonpikes]

Never mind 'Letters of Marque' - I'm awaiting 'Bills of Attainder'.

At my compound.

That Sharps must be a beauty. ;^)

[MissAmericanPie]

I'm afraid the way the founding documents read, he has the right to stockpile, and the rest of us have to wait until he actually does something with it that we don't like.

[Joe Brower]

You're changing the subject. Your initial question wasn't about how fit this particular individual is, mentally or otherwise, to exercise the RKBA. Your question was "I wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?". It was to that query that I responded.

I agree -- this guy sounds like he's a bit off. With the "quality" of "news" reporting nowadays, though, one must wonder how much of this information is viable. If he did indeed have crosshairs drawn on GW and Rumsfield, he's no friend of mine.

Stay well,

[MineralMan]

"That Sharps must be a beauty. ;^)"

Actually, it's not all that beautiful. It was my great-grandfather's, a .54 Carbine. While I maintain it, I have not restored it or removed any of the knocks and dings it acquired during its lifetime. It's probably safe enough to fire, but I have no particular desire to do that. It's a memory piece for me. I'll keep it from rust, but I won't attempt to make it a showpiece.