Christian man stalks family

MAN IS HELD FOR STALKING MUSLIM - TOP http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/NEWS/61206023A 32-year-old Guilford man has been arrested and accused of stalking and threatening to kill a family of Muslims that he believed were plotting a terrorist attack.The family the man is accused of targeting lives in Dummerston and owns a Brattleboro business. Authorities said the man's suspicions are baseless.Kyle A. Thurber was arrested Dec. 1 after waiting with a loaded rifle outside the workplace of two Muslim men, police said. Thurber, who has known the men for many years, told police they were terrorists planning to attack the United States.Thurber apparently has been living out of his car in the Brattleboro area and is undergoing a mental health evaluation, said David Gartenstein, the deputy state's attorney for Windham County.Thurber pleaded innocent Monday in Brattleboro District Court to two felony counts of aggravated stalking with a deadly weapon. He faces up to 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines if convicted.In court documents, Brattleboro Police accuse Thurber of stalking the family over a three-day period, beginning Nov. 29 when he allegedly gunned his car outside their residence in Dummerston, spinning the tires, and then drove on their driveway and lawn.They told police Thurber stalked them again the next day at their Brattleboro business. Thurber confronted one of the men and said he wanted to talk with him and with his son; Thurber left "frustrated" after the man told him his son had called in sick, court documents state.Employees of the business said Thurber had been waiting in the company's parking lot since 6:30 a.m. that day. The confrontation with Thurber occurred at about 10:30 a.m.Fearing for his family's safety, the man hired an off-duty Brattleboro Police officer to guard the office and moved his family to a seasonal home in New Hampshire. Police said Thurber tried and failed to enter the business at about 10 a.m. Nov. 31. The doors had been locked. Police said that when they arrived to question Thurber, he told them he had a job interview.Police searched his car and found a Remington 7600 rifle and ammunition, according to records.Thurber told police members of the family, who are Palestinian, were plotting to blow up the north end of Brattleboro and possibly the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon. He said he was suspicious because they frequently spoke Arabic to each other.Thurber told police he planned to assault family members but did not want to kill them because he didn't want to go to prison. Still, police allege, he repeatedly made threats against their lives."Thurber stated that he thought the [family] should no longer be able to breathe," Brattleboro Police Officer Mark Carignan wrote in his affidavit. "He said that they needed to be killed to protect the United States." (MORE)SEE ALSO: