White House Locked Down Briefly Due To Intruder
The White House was placed briefly under lockdown, Wednesday, after an individual tried to jump over the bike rack, which is supposed to serve as an additional barricade to the presidential property.
The incident in question, took place at 04:28 p.m. EDT near 17th Street and E Street in First Division Park, according to FOX5. The United States Secret Service (USSS) later confirmed the person responsible for the temporary scare had been taken into custody and the lockdown had been lifted.
Although the latest lockdown was a brief one, and the White House has since been cleared of all threats, it is not the first instance of such a lockdown since President Donald Trump took office.
The first intrusion at the White House, since Trump took office, occurred March 10, when Jonathan T. Tran, an individual from California, made his way into the White House grounds and roamed around for 17 minutes before being arrested by Secret Service. The president was present inside the premises at the time, the Independent reported.
Calls for the first White House lockdown however, since Trump’s inauguration, came March 27, when a suspicious package was found near the White House grounds. Staff and members of the media were moved to a safe distance and a secure perimeter was established within minutes of the mysterious package being discovered.
The White House went into lockdown for 45 minutes following the incident which started when an unidentified individual walked up to a uniformed officer at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, carrying the package and uttered some strange words. The man was taken into custody by shortly afterwards.
“The service did a fantastic job last night,” Trump told reporters the next day, in appreciation of the quick measures taken by the Secret Service, the Hill reported. “It was a troubled person.”
A scare of a similar nature took place on April 15, when another “suspicious” package was discovered on Pennsylvania Avenue. The White House went into lockdown yet again till Secret Service checked out the source of the disruption and “cleared” it.
Earlier in May, a female suspect attempted to climb over the north fence surrounding the White House grounds after jumping over a bike rack, prompting an immediate lock down of Trump’s Washington home. It happened hours after Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House, which had already sparked protests from many social activists outside the gates earlier that day, Express reported.
Tensions have been running high as the Trump administration tries to find ways to save the president’s daily dropping approval ratings and the growing public outrage against his controversial policy choices.
A few hours before the latest White House lockdown took place, a suspect carrying a couple of guns, including an assault weapon was arrested in the parking lot of Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. in what D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham described as a “potential disaster.”
The unnamed suspect was 43 years old, and from Pennsylvania, WTOP reported.
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