www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/20/bush.grenade/index.html
The man was detained after being wounded in an exchange of gunfire in whi ch a policeman was killed, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili told repo rters. The official said police went to Arutiniani's apartment after receiving a tip that he might have information for the investigation. The gunfight began when the man opened fire, Merabishvili said. He said authorities still were collecting information on Arutiniani. On Wednesday night, the head of Georgia's presidential administration, Ge orge Arveladze, told CNN the suspect was Armenian. Georgian officials have said that the grenade was Armenian. Asked about Wednesday's developments, Secret Service spokesman Tom Mazur said, "We were not involved" in the incident but "we continue to monitor the Georgian investigation." Although the grenade never exploded in Freedom Square, it could have, acc ording to Georgian officials and an FBI agent.
Full story) In the hours after the incident, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry ha d described the device as an inert, Soviet-era training grenade that pos ed no threat to President Bush or his audience. The grenade was tossed within 100 feet (30 meters) of the podium where Bu sh, Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili and other officials were prote cted by bulletproof glass. Tens of thousands of people had crowded into Tbilisi's main plaza -- Free dom Square -- to hear President Bush speak on May 10. A statement on the US Embassy Web site called the grenade a "live devic e that simply failed to function." The grenade was wrapped in a "dark tartan-colored cloth," the statement s aid. "We consider this act to be a threat against the health and welfare of bo th the president of the United States and the president of Georgia as we ll as the multitude of Georgian people that had turned out at the event, " the statement added. A reward of 20,000 laris ($10,978) was offered in exchange for informatio n leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible, the em bassy statement said.
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