An Orange County deputy sheriff stands armed and ready Thursday afternoon as deputies and the Secret Service responded to threats by a man who was taken into custody for psychiatric evaluation. (Courtesy of Gary Lutins, Courtesy of Gary Lutins / Aug 03, 2012)
A man was taken for psychiatric observation Thursday evening after making threats that caused the U.S. Secret Service to respond.
Authorities would not say whether the threats targeted President Barack Obama or former President Bill Clinton, both of whom were in Central Florida on Thursday.
Orange County deputies were called to Winter Park Pointe apartments on Semoran Boulevard north of Aloma Avenue about 4:50 p.m. after the man threatened to harm himself and others, sheriff's spokesman Jeff Williamson said.
Neighbors in the community north of Colonial Drive and south of University Boulevard said law officers — some of whom turned out to be Secret Service agents — with pistols and long guns swarmed the complex.
The Secret Service protects presidents, presidential candidates and former presidents. Obama made a campaign stop Thursday afternoon at Rollins College. Clinton attended a fundraiser in Lake Mary on Thursday night for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.
The man, whose name was not released, was taken for three days of observation under Florida's Baker Act. It allows involuntary commitment for people deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Resident Jim Aplin, 55, said he tried to walk to the office to pay his rent and was stopped by two deputies with assault weapons who told him to stay in his apartment.
Aplin and neighbor Alejandra Lozano, 38, said marked and unmarked cars blocked both front entrances to the complex and were parked along the roadway that's parallel to Semoran Boulevard.
Lozano said a law officer told her sister, who also lives at the complex, that a man with a rifle was threatening to shoot anyone he saw.
Aplin said Sheriff's Office cars and ambulances frequently pull up to the man's building at the front of the complex and remove him on a stretcher.
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