Incident Summary:
05/20/2013: A letter containing ricin was mailed to United States President, Barack Obama, in Washington, District of Columbia, United States. The letter caused no injuries as it was intercepted before it could reach the President. This was one of three related attacks targeting pro-gun control political and social figures on this day. The letter warned the President of future attacks if he pursued a gun control agenda. Shannon Richardson, an American television actress, was arrested on June 7, 2013 in connection with the incident.
Overview
GTD ID:
201305200073
When:
2013-05-20
Country:
United States
Region:
North America
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
District of Columbia
City:
Washington
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Unarmed Assault |
| Successful Attack? () |
No |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Government (General) |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Government of the United States |
| Specific Description |
President: Barack Obama |
| Nationality of Target |
United States |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
No |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
No |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Biological |
|
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| Ricin in a letter was used in the attack. |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | Yes |
| Criterion 1 () |
No |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
Yes |
| Alternate Designation () |
Other Crime Type |
| Additional Information |
There is doubt that this incident meets terrorism-related criteria. Richardson claimed she had sent the letters in order to frame her husband. |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
| Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
| Anti-Gun Control extremists |
Yes (Confirmed: Unknown; Mode: Personal claim) |
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
1 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
0 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
0 |
| Total Number of Injured |
0 |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
| "Texas woman in ricin case sentenced to 18 years in prison," CBS News, July 16, 2014. |
| "Texas woman is indicted over ricin letters to Obama, others," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 29, 2013. |
| "Texas woman indicted for sending ricin letters to Obama," India Blooms News Service, June 29, 2013. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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