White House Shooting Suspect Arrested in Pennsylvania
Federal law enforcement officers have apprehended a 21-year-old drifter from Idaho suspected of shooting a semiautomatic rifle at the White House on the night of Nov. 11. Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez was arrested at a hotel near Indiana, Pennsylvania, and is being held by the Pennsylvania State Police.
The Secret Service on Tuesday discovered a bullet that hit an exterior window of the White House but was stopped by the ballistic glass; it also found a second bullet on the exterior of the building, the Associated Press reports. The discovery followed reports of gunfire near the White House last Friday, after which witnesses said they heard shots and saw two vehicles speeding away. In addition, an assault rifle, not an AK-47 rifle as previously reported, was recovered by a nearby bridge. President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were in California when the incident occurred.
On Tuesday an Occupy DC protester told Talking Points Memo that the Secret Service led a search of a camp not far from the White House Monday night, looking for “a so-called terrorist who shot at the White House; with no warrant, they went into everybody’s tents.” Law enforcement at that time suspected Hernandez-Ortega to be the shooter.
(Photo: AP Photo/U.S. Park Police)