http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php?action=post;board=3.0Attempted White House intruder arrested, 24 hours after man gets inside presidential doors
Published September 20, 2014
FoxNews.com
An unidentified man was arrested Saturday outside the White House after driving up to the gates and refused to leave, less than 24 hours after another man jumped the fence and got inside the presidential residence before being arrested, according to the Secret Service.
The second incident occurred at about 3 p.m. when the man approached one of the White House gates on foot, said agency spokesman Ed Donovan said. He later showed up at another gate in a car and pulled into the vehicle screening area.
When the man refused to leave, he was placed under arrest and charged with unlawful entry. The suspect has been identified as Kevin Carr from Shamong, N.J.
Bomb technicians, fully suited, could be seen looking through a white four-door sedan with New Jersey plates and pulling out what appeared to be keys. Streets near the White House were temporarily closed as officers responded, but the White House was not locked down.
The first family had left for a weekend trip to the presidential retreat Camp David, in western Maryland.
The incident Friday occurred at 7:20 p.m. on the north side of the White House, about four minutes after President Obama, his two daughters and a friend departed in helicopter Marine One from the South Lawn. First lady Michelle Obama had traveled separately to the retreat.
The suspect has been identified as Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, of Copperas Cove, Texas, according to the Secret Service, which he was unarmed when apprehended.
The agency has started a full investigation, amid intense criticism about the incident and other White House security breaches.
A former Secret Service agent told Fox News that if an intruder is not armed, then agents are “not supposed to shoot him."
The ex-agent also said a sure-footed intruder can jump the fence and reach the front doors in about five seconds, especially if he or she enters between the two front gate command posts.
"It's not a hard thing to do,” the ex-agent said.
Gonzalez was arrested and taken to George Washington Hospital for medical evaluation, said agency spokesman Brian Leary. He also said Gonzalez ignored commands to stop and continued through the doors.
On Saturday morning, law enforcement officials conducted a shoulder-to-shoulder sweep of the White House’s north lawn as well as the plaza in front of the iconic building and adjacent Lafayette Park.
The breach Friday triggered a rare evacuation of much of the White House, with Secret Service officers drawing their guns as they rushed staffers and journalists out a side door.
It also prompted fresh questions about the storied agency and its ability to protect the president.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of a House subcommittee on national security oversight, initially called the incident "totally unacceptable" and just one of a string of security failings on the Secret Service's watch.
On Saturday afternoon, he sounded no less if not more concerned.
"You jump the fence, you're going to get shot," he said. "People are going to jump the fence. But to make it unimpeded all the way into the White House is unacceptable. ... The front door was wide open. ... I have a lot of questions for (Secret Service) leadership."
Gonzales, in jeans and a dark shirt, was tackled just inside the doors of the North Portico, the grand, columned entrance that looks out over Pennsylvania Avenue.
He was charged with unlawful entry into the White House complex and taken to the nearby hospital after complaining of chest pain.
Attempts to reach Gonzalez or his relatives by phone were unsuccessful.
Although it's not uncommon for people to make it over the White House fence, they're typically stopped almost immediately and rarely get very far. Video from the scene showed the intruder sprinting across the lawn as Secret Service agents shouted at nearby pedestrians to clear the area.
"This situation was a little different than other incidents we have at the White House," said agency spokesman Ed Donovan. "There will be a thorough investigation into the incident."
On Saturday, bomb technicians, fully suited, could be seen looking through a white four-door sedan with New Jersey plates and pulling out what appeared to be keys. Streets near the White House were temporarily closed as officers responded, but the White House was not locked down.
It was unclear this weekend whether any other fence-jumpers have ever made it into the White House, one of the most highly protected buildings in the world. But Friday's incident was just the latest setback for an elite agency whose reputation has suffered a succession of blows in recent years.
In 2012, 13 Secret Service agents and officers were implicated in a prostitution scandal during preparations for Obama's trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The next year, two officers were removed from the president's detail after another alleged incident of sexually-related misconduct. And in March, an agent was found drunk by staff at a Dutch hotel the day before Obama was set to arrive in the Netherlands.
Obama appointed the agency's first female director last year as a sign he wanted to change the culture and restore public confidence in its operations. An inspector general's report in December found no evidence of widespread misconduct.
The Secret Service has struggled in recent years to strike the appropriate balance between ensuring the first family's security and preserving the public's access to the White House grounds. Once open to vehicles, the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House was confined to pedestrians after the Oklahoma City bombing, but officials have been reluctant to restrict access to the area further.
Evacuations at the White House are extremely rare. Typically, when someone jumps the White House fence, the compound is put on lockdown and those inside remain in place while officers respond. Last week, the Secret Service apprehended a man who jumped over the same stretch of fence on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, prompting officers to draw their firearms and deploy service dogs as they took the man into custody.
Fox News' Ed Henry, Lesa Jansen, Wes Barrett and Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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