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.

[MineralMan]

Uh-oh! This should be an interesting thread, for sure.

I wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?

[inquest]

It had in mind anything that can be used to execute the laws, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.

[DaGman]

"I wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?"

Got asbestos?

[MineralMan]

""I wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?"

Got asbestos?"

All I need.

[Just another Joe]

I wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?

Actually I would think they did since most of the cannon used in the American revolution were privately owned.

[SpellingTroll]

"We told our kids to stay off his property."

Well, trespassing on private property is a crime in Michigan. It is always advisable to stay off private property unless you have the landowner's permission.
Michigan Trespass Law, 324.73102

"There was gunfire a lot," said Lynda Sherburne, a former township clerk who lives nearby.
So? Many people who live in rural Michigan target shoot frequently.

"Who knows where the stray bullets are going.
Typical anti-gun hysterics.

[Freemeorkillme]

Constitutionalist!!!! There, there, I spotted one!

All kidding aside, there are several holes in this rag's account....peppered generously with a liberal dose of fantasy.

"Federal gun and drug charges"... Oooookay, so let's hear the precise charges rather than a pretty delineation of every liberal's nightmare.

[FourPeas]

most of the cannon used in the American revolution were privately owned.

Can you source that?
(My son is quite interested in the American Revolution.)

[Joe Brower]

"I wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?"

A much better question would be why a government, with entires navies, air & ground forces at it's disposal, be so obsessed with keeping small arms, much less AA, out of the hands of it's citizens.

[bvw]

Yes.

[Just another Joe]

Can you source that?

I can but it will take me a while. I don't have it readily available.

[MineralMan]

"A much better question would be why a government, with entires navies, air & ground forces at it's disposal, be so obsessed with keeping small arms, much less AA, out of the hands of it's citizens."

Sorry, but this guy sounds like a serious nutcase to me. Hardly the poster boy for RKBA. Crosshairs on Bush and Rumsfeld? Sounds pretty indefensible to me.

But, if you have an argument in favor of the man, please let's hear it.

BTW, I'm not an anti-firearms guy. I own my own "arsenal."

[RKV]

I'll bite - yes it certainly did contemplate privately owned weapons of this type. See Article 8 Section 11 of the Constituion which grants congresional power to "grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal". A letter of marque is used by privately owned warships, which even in the 1700's would have had devastating firepower. That settles the issue for me quite easily.

http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque

[samtheman]

This guy sounds like a low level lunatic and loser. With the President and VP in his cross-hairs.

Remember, just because he's a gun owner, doesn't make him a roll model.

[MineralMan]

So, do you suppose this gentleman had been issued a "Letter of Marque" by Congress?

[joesnuffy]

there is more than enough stuff in this world to be "filled with rage" about
That is why God ..invented prunes

[B Knotts]

40-acre compound

What exactly is a "compound?" What makes it a "compound?"

[Destructor]

" wonder if the 2nd Amendment had anti-aircraft weapons in mind?"

I wonder if the 1st Amendment had your asinine comment in mind?

[FourPeas]

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.