Politics
Prosecutor: Fence Jumper is ‘a Danger to the President’
WASHINGTON (USA Today) — White House fence jumper Omar Gonzalez, arrested with a folding knife in his pocket, also had a car packed with more than 800 rounds of ammunition parked a few blocks away, a prosecutor said Monday in federal court.
The incident at the White House on Friday was the 42-year-old Army veteran’s third run-in with law enforcement in recent months.
At the time of his arrest, he was out on bail from a Virginia jail after an arrest in July, when he led Virginia State Police on a car chase in Pulaski County in southwest Virginia. When authorities there searched his car, they found an arsenal, including two shotguns, three rifles and five pistols, and a map of the Washington area tucked into a Bible. The White House and the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, Va., had been circled on the map, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mudd said.
Gonzalez will be held in jail for 10 days while authorities in Wythe County, Va., take steps to revoke his bail in that case. Gonzalez, who stood calmly in court wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, will appear in court again on Oct. 1 for a detention hearing to determine whether he will be allowed out of jail.
