White House gun suspect obsessed with Obama
WASHINGTON - A man clad in black who was obsessed with President Barack Obama pulled his car within view of the White House at night and fired shots from an assault rifle, cracking a window of the first family's living quarters while the president was away, authorities said about their still-developing investigation.
The U.S. Secret Service found two bullets had hit the White House and agents caught up with Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez in Pennsylvania on Wednesday after a four-day search. Police arrested the 21-year-old Idaho man at a hotel after a desk clerk recognized his picture. Ortega was scheduled to make his first appearance at 2 p.m. Thursday in federal court in Pittsburgh and many questions remained about his motive and background.
Sources tell CBS News Ortega-Hernandez was not on the radar of the Secret Service before Friday's shooting. But investigators believe he may have targeted the White House due to a hatred of President Obama. Businessman Monte McCall, said Ortega-Hernandez compared the president to the "Antichrist" when they met recently.
"He seemed very sincere in what he believed but seemed rather troubled," McCall said.
Bullet hits White House window; Suspect sought
Police probe possible shots fired near W.H.
Authorities are investigating the man's mental health and say there are indications he believed attacking the White House was part of a personal mission from God, according to two different law enforcement officials who spoke with The Associated Press. There are also indications the man had become obsessed with Mr. Obama and the White House, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Shots were fired at the building Friday night. Agents discovered Tuesday that one of the two bullets hit the exterior and a second cracked a window on the second floor residential level, just behind the rounded portico visible from the south side of the White House.
That bullet was stopped by protective ballistic glass. The window that was hit is in front of the so-called Yellow Oval Room, which is in the middle of the family's living quarters.
CBS News correspondent Bob Orr reports ballistics tests are being run to match the bullets found at the White House with the rifle. Prosecutors say they're considering charges of attempted assassination, even though the incident presented no threat to the president.
Mr. Obama and his wife Michelle were on a trip to California and Hawaii at the time of the shooting. The president has since traveled on to Australia on a nine-day Asia-Pacific tour. The Obamas were in California without daughters Malia and Sasha, but the White House had no immediate comment on the shooting or who may have been home at the time.
Investigators believe Ortega fired the rifle from his vehicle Friday, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation. Gunshots were reported that night on Constitution Avenue about 9:30 p.m. Soon after, U.S. Park Police found an abandoned vehicle, the assault rifle inside it, near a bridge leading out of the nation's capital to Virginia. The car led investigators to Ortega, and they obtained a warrant for his arrest Sunday, officials said.
This is not the first time the White House has come under attack.
In the last 40 years, the landmark has faced threats ranging from a stolen helicopter that landed on the grounds in 1974 to a man who wielded a sawed-off shotgun on a sidewalk outside in 1984. In 1994 alone, there were five threats including a plane crash on the lawn and a suspected drive-by shooting. Another man fired at least 29 rounds from a semiautomatic weapon, with 11 striking the White House.
Dan Bongino is a former Secret Service agent who served on the presidential details for Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush. He said Friday's shooting would likely mean tighter security and coordination.
"They do an exhaustive review of their security procedures every time something like this happens," he said. "Nothing ever works perfectly. They will undress this completely and then they will find out when they rebuild the incident exactly what they could have done better."
Bongino, who recently left the Secret Service to run for U.S. Senate in Maryland, said it was doubtful that a gunman could strike a target such as the White House from a moving car at the distance investigators suspect he shot. It would require "an incredible amount of training to pull that off," he said, suggesting it was more likely Ortega stopped his car to fire.
An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing said Ortega used a knockoff of an AK-47. Late Wednesday, however, authorities had not conclusively linked his gun to the rounds found at the White House.
In the days after the gunfire, police distributed photos of Ortega. He had been stopped and questioned Friday morning just across the Potomac River from Washington in Arlington, Va. Arlington police said they stopped him after a report of suspicious behavior but released him after photographing him because they had no reason to make an arrest at that time.
Subsequently, a U.S. Park Police crime bulletin said he was known to have mental health issues.
"Ortega should be considered unstable with violent tendencies," the bulletin stated.
Ortega was arrested Wednesday afternoon without putting up resistance at a hotel near Indiana, Pa., about 55 miles east of Pittsburgh, the Secret Service said. He was in Pennsylvania State Police custody.
State troopers said Ortega had visited the hotel in recent days, and investigators believed he was back in the area Wednesday. The Secret Service passed out photographs and a desk clerk recognized his picture and stalled him while notifying police.
Ortega is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was reported missing Oct. 31 by his family. A message left for Ortega's mother Wednesday at an Idaho Falls restaurant where she works was not returned. Phone listings for family members in the city were disconnected.
Ortega has an arrest record in three states but has not been linked to any radical organizations, U.S. Park Police have said.
Popular on CBSNews.com
- Massive tornado hits Okla. 60 Photos
- Mile-wide tornado rips through Oklahoma City area
- Children rescued from elementary school in Okla. 11 Photos
- Oklahoma tornado carves trail of destruction Play Video
- At least 51 dead after massive Okla. tornado
- Severe tornado tears through Oklahoma City suburb Play Video
- Oklahoma tornado kills at least 51, including 20 children
- Record Fla. Powerball winner can't remain anonymous
I did read the article. Still, I do go to church. In fact I'm a Christian! But, I don't listen to Rush Limbaugh. Oh NO! Shucks, does that mean I'll have to start? Will I be forced to put a Jesus sticker on my car? AND, what's worse, I don't see any conflict whatsoever between natural selection and special creation? OMG!! Please don't tell me I'll have to start hating science and listening to Bryan Fischer (never heard of him anyway). Will I have to do that so as not to confuse all the folks who see the world as a bunch of one-dimensional stereotypes?
Maybe its just the 2% of lunatics on both "sides" who see the world that way. (Last time I looked at a pic, the Earth was roughly spherical, couldn't see any noticeable "sides")
Maybe most folks (almost everybody) are just basically good, want to live and let live, and just want to get on with their lives peacefully.
I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
I believe "e pluribus unum" signifies the unity of a nation, not some Masonic conspiracy.
I believe in the ultimate wisdom of baseball, hots dogs, and beer.
He has 'Israel' tattoo on his neck and thinks President Obama is the biblical antichrist. How did you miss those critical elements of the story? Did you even read it?
This guy, like about 40% of the US, has been swept up in the Religious Right's radical hate-mongering against President Obama. Four people in my office right now (deep south) believe President Obama is the antichrist and wish this guy had succeeded in killing him.
They all have Jesus stickers on their cars, go to Church, listen to Rush Limbaugh and Bryan Fischer, reject evolution, deny climate change, hate science (but all own iPhones and modern technology), and are completely ignorant on actual politics.
The RR is creating carbon copy sheep at an alarming rate and when you have unstable people like this guy come in contact with this wave of radical Christian extremist views.....these things happen. Anders Brevik's happen. Abortion clinics get bombed. Abortion doctors are murdered. Teavangelicals are voted into Congress in mass. Etc etc etc....
Sorry AK47 is a weapon of terrorists and liberals.
Right.
The NRA is a "left leaning extremist organization".
Stick with that, genius.
And I don't know what the NRA is anymore. They have lost their way. Now they favor convicted felons being allowed to get their gun rights back, yet a big part of the NRA mantra has always been "law abiding citizens ...this and that..." Sorry, Wayne, once a convicted felon, always a convicted felon. A criminal chose his/her path and it is through their own fault that they lost their 2A rights. I hope to God they never are allowed near a gun of any type. We TRULY law abiding citizens don't need that scum in our midst. Or is the NRA simply about selling guns to anyone, and only exploits the Second Amendment to do so? I think so.
Good.
For the first time in a long time, we won't have to see "almighty_king" and / or "your_one_king" posting here, now that he's in federal custody!
I don't understand, if someone thinks a person is the antichrist, wouldn't they be going against God's plan to get in their way?
I'm wondering if this is another 'conspiracy theory' being
foisted on the public again by the government!
Is this another third-party operative of the CIA acting under
mind control?
The public is supposed to BELIEVE there are terrorists loose
in America, so fed and state authorities can start confronting
and arresting everyone!
Because frankly, where I am in the middle-west USA, very few
people care about Obama! And, are looking forward to
replacing him!
No one is interested in him, little alone wanting to shoot him!
Davecat, you are a wise man.