Secret Service Launches Probe Into White House Security Breach
” The intruder who sprinted across the White House lawn and was able to enter the North Portico doors had a knife, officials said Saturday as the Secret Service pledged a review of Friday night’s security breach and increased patrols.
Omar J. Gonzalez, 42, an Iraq war veteran, was arrested after he hopped over a fence at 7:20 p.m. and sprinted across the lawn before entering the North Portico doors. Officials initially said Gonzalez was unarmed, but a law enforcement official told NBC News Saturday that Gonzales had a four-inch folding knife on him when he was arrested. Army records show Gonzalez is an Iraq war veteran who served as a cavalry scout, and he served in Iraq from 2006 to 2008.
The Secret Service on Saturday was reviewing how Gonzalez was able to make it as far as he did, and said in a statement that “the location of Gonzalez’s arrest is not acceptable.” Secret Service Director Julia Pierson increased security patrols and surveillance of the White House fence and ordered an investigation into what went wrong.
On Saturday another man, a 19-year-old from New Jersey, was arrested after he tried to drive past a barricaded entrance to the complex and refused to stop, Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary said. The man, identified by a law enforcement official as Kevin Carr of Shamong, N.J., didn’t hit the barricades or cause any damage, but was arrested on a charge of unlawful entry. Streets surrounding the entrance at were briefly closed.”
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