(Newswire.net — September 20, 2014) — Omar J. Gonzales, a 42-year-old white male from Texas, jumped over the White House Yard fence at 7:20 EDT and made it to the one of the building’s main entrances, a US Secret Service Spokesman said. Gonzales was caught, unarmed, just inside the North Portico doors of the White House.
Jumping over White House yard fence is not so unusual, there has been 35 such instances in the last 100 years since the fence was built. Almost half of the breaches were from 1990 on. However, it is unusual to occur three times within last two months: August 7, 2014 – An unknown toddler squeezed though the fence, and was returned to his parents, a week ago – September 11, 2014 – A man wearing a Pikachu hat scaled the fence and entered the North Lawn. Omar J. Gonzalez, jumped the fence yesterday from the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the White House.
What is highly unusual for a complex that is heavily guarded by Secret Service officers and snipers, is the intruder’s ability to get so far on the grounds before being apprehended.
He was arrested and taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, Secret Service Spokesman said, but Gonzales was actually complaining of severe chest pains.
“The Secret Service will review the response to ensure that the proper protocol was followed,” spokesman Ed Donovan said.
Donovan said the fact that Gonzales had made it to the doors was “not acceptable to us and it’s going to be closely reviewed.”
Obama and his daughters had left the White House earlier, departing on the Marine One helicopter for Camp David, the Presidential retreat in nearby Maryland.
First lady Michelle Obama was also not at home, having traveled to the retreat earlier, a spokeswoman said.
Most White House intruders do not try to harm the President (who may not even be in residence), but are usually attempting to attract attention to their causes or ideas or are intruding accidentally.
Currently, a fence surrounds the White House, but it did not always exist. Though at various points since the time of Thomas Jefferson, various fences and gates were added to shape or constrain public access, greater public access to the White House grounds than was common in comparable European institutions was possible (with some restrictions) up until World War II. After World War II, public access to the White House grounds has been increasingly restricted.
During the mid-1990s, the fence was expanded by one block to move traffic farther from the White House to prevent possible damage from a car bomb.
There have been four assassinations of US presidents and many more assassination attempts. None of the assassinations occurred at the White House, and only one attempt occurred there.