November 28, 2011 -- Updated 0758 GMT (1558 HKT)
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez believed President Obama was "the devil," according to an unnamed witness.
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez believed President Obama was "the devil," according to an unnamed witness.Ortega was arrested November 16 and is accused of firing shots at the White HouseA judge orders a mental competency hearing for himWitness in criminal complaint: Ortega believed Obama was "the devil"
Washington (CNN) -- An Idaho man charged with trying to assassinate the president in a shooting incident outside the White House will return to court Monday for a preliminary hearing.
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, is accused of firing shots at the White House 17 days ago, including some that hit the building near the residence area where President Barack Obama and his family live, according to a complaint document made public.
Ortega, as he refers to himself, was arrested in a hotel lobby on November 16 in western Pennsylvania.
Last week at a brief hearing, a judge appointed two federal public defenders to Ortega but did not ask him to enter a plea. He also ordered a preliminary mental competency examination of the suspect.
David Bos, one of the public defenders, said the case should be dismissed because the criminal complaint issued does not contain probable cause.
Bos said none of the witnesses mentioned in the document had identified his client.
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Varghese said Ortega drove more than 2,000 miles from his home in Idaho to the scene of the shooting near the White House.
In the criminal complaint, one unnamed witness who had known Ortega for more than six years said Ortega believed Obama is "the devil."
Another unnamed witness told law enforcement Ortega told the witness Obama was "the anti-Christ" and said he "needed to kill him."
On the night of the shooting, officials say the shooter fled in his car and wrecked near a bridge leading to Virginia. The criminal complaint said Ortega is listed as one of the two people who own that vehicle, a 1998 black Honda.
According to the document, a Romanian Cugir SA semi-automatic assault rifle was found in the car along with nine spent shell casings and three magazines of ammunition. Also found in the Honda was a black hooded jacket with the letters "LA" on it.
Earlier on the day of the shooting, Arlington County, Virginia, police stopped Ortega after receiving a report from a resident that he was behaving suspiciously. He was not arrested, but the police photographed him wearing a black hooded jacket with "LA" emblazoned on it. The criminal complaint said it appeared to be the same jacket investigators found in the abandoned car.
The president was in California the day of the shooting incident on November 11.
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