A California man was ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination after trying to enter a parking garage near UN headquarters with two firearms and a five-gallon can of gasoline in his car.
"Who is the owner of the United Nations building? I want an attorney from the United Nations," Vernon Wilker of Salton City, California, shouted out at his arraignment, demanding that his court-appointed attorney be replaced.
Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Donna Recant ordered him to be sent for evaluation and set a new court date for September 19th.
Mr Wilker (59) was charged with three counts of firearms violations and could face up to seven years in prison if found to be mentally competent.
He was arrested on yesterday after attempting to drive his station wagon into a garage under a hotel located across the street from UN headquarters on Manhattan's East Side.
Told by a private guard at the garage entrance that his vehicle had to be searched, he asked if a permit was required to carry a .22-caliber revolver, then backed up and left the garage without being searched, UN chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Mr Wilker returned 10 minutes later and tried to run over the guard to force his way into the garage, Dujarric said. At that point, a US Secret Service agent standing nearby apprehended the man and turned him over to New York police.
Mr Wilker later told law enforcement authorities he had a property dispute in California and was coming to the United Nations to file a lawsuit, Ms Dujarric said.