Couple Held on Charges of Plotting to Assassinate Jackson

A couple said to be members of a white supremacist group were ordered held without bail Tuesday on charges they conspired to assassinate the Rev. Jesse Jackson because he was “getting too close to being President.”

Londell Williams, 30, and his wife, Tammy J. Williams, 27, of Washington, Mo., appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Carol Jackson. She determined that there was enough of a threat to the Democratic presidential candidate to hold the couple without bail pending grand jury action.

The pair are charged with conspiring to kill Jackson and with possession of illegal weapons. They were arrested Friday in Franklin County, Mo., about 50 miles west of St. Louis.

The complaint against the couple said that on May 9, an informant told the Franklin County sheriff’s office that the two were conspiring to kill Jackson. The sheriff’s office contacted the Secret Service, which launched an investigation.

On May 10, the complaint said, the informant met again with Londell Williams, who told the informant that he was a member of The Order as well as other white supremacist groups.

Williams allegedly told the informant that on June 21 or July 4, he and his wife would kill Jackson “because he was getting too close to being President of the United States.”

Jackson, campaigning in Los Angeles, was informed of the threat late Tuesday and praised the Secret Service.

He noted that it was 20 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and then presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated.

“We know in a sense that we go through the valley and shadows of death every day,” Jackson said. “Yet, we will not fear evil, nor will we surrender. The stakes are too high and we’re too close to our goal. The Secret Service will do their job and catch the dreambusters and I will do my job and keep spreading hope.”