Investigators found more than 800 rounds of ammunition, a machete and two hatchets in the car of the former soldier accused of scaling the White House fence and sprinting inside while carrying a knife, a US prosecutor said on Monday.
US President Barack Obama was “obviously concerned” about the weekend incident, a spokesman said.
The Secret Service, which protects the president and his family, increased security around the famous grounds on Pennsylvania Avenue in the nation’s capital, some guards openly holding weapons, others escorting dogs. There was talk of expanding the security zone beyond the current area as a major investigation began into the question of how the man managed to get to the building without being stopped.
Photo: Bloomberg
Forty-two-year-old Omar Gonzalez faces charges of entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon.
He had been arrested earlier in the summer in Virginia with a carful of weapons, authorities said, and a federal prosecutor on Monday said in court that Gonzalez had had a map then with the White House circled.
Authorities ran into Gonzalez again, less than a month ago on Aug. 25, when he was stopped while walking along the south fence of the White House, his car parked nearby.
He had a hatchet in a rear waistband, but no firearms, a federal prosecutor said at Monday’s hearing.
Gonzalez gave permission to search his car and was not arrested, the prosecutor said.
On Friday evening last week, Obama and his family had left the White House for Camp David when the incident occurred. Gonzalez was seized just inside the building’s front door. No guns were found in his car.
In court, Gonzalez, with a gray beard, a shaved head and dressed in a standard prison orange jumpsuit, listened impassively as the prosecutor spoke. He could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of illegally entering a restricted area with a dangerous weapon.
The army said he served from 1997 until his discharge in 2003, and again from 2005 to December 2012, when he retired due to disability.
Obama, asked about the incident at the White House, said: “The Secret Service does a great job, and I’m grateful for the sacrifices that they make on my behalf — and my family’s behalf.”
However, spokesman Josh Earnest said the president was “obviously concerned” about what had happened.
At the federal court hearing, Assistant US Attorney David Mudd said Gonzalez was already under indictment in southwestern Virginia, accused of having a sawed-off shotgun and trying to elude police this summer.
In that case, state troopers and agents from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found a cache of weapons that included two semi-automatic military style rifles, including one with a bipod and flashlight and one with a bipod and scope, three .45-caliber handguns and several loaded ammunition magazines, Wythe County Deputy Commonwealth Attorney David Saliba said in a telephone interview.
Saliba said he also had a hatchet and camping equipment.
The weapons and ammunition were seized in that July 19 incident, but Gonzalez was released on bail.
Earnest said the Secret Service investigation will include a review of protective efforts both inside the White House grounds and outside the fence line along Pennsylvania Avenue, including staffing and threat assessment policies and procedures.
Officers who spotted Gonzalez scale the fence quickly assessed that he did not have any weapons in his hands and was not wearing clothing that could conceal substantial quantities of explosives, a primary reason agents did not fire their weapons, according to a US official briefed on the investigation.
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