White House Gunman Jailed

(CBS)  A middle-aged accountant charged in connection with a shooting incident outside the White House was ordered held without bond Wednesday, pending a preliminary hearing.

Robert W. Pickett, who was shot in the knee by a Secret Service officer as he allegedly waved a gun outside the White House Feb. 7, appeared in U.S. District Court on crutches. Pickett told U.S. Magistrate Alan Kay he was prepared to affirm that all the answers he has given in connection with the case so far were true.

Pickett is charged with assault on a federal officer. If convicted, he could face 10 years behind bars.

Kay said he also will conduct a commitment hearing Tuesday. Federal prosecutors have asked that Pickett be sent to a federal psychiatric hospital for examination.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Walutes said Pickett, who was hospitalized and operated on in the wake of the incident, was taking at least 24 different medications and said he had been under psychiatric care for 15 years.

According to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court by Park Police Detective Timothy Moser, Pickett was shot after he refused to drop the weapon and was pointing it toward some bushes where officers were hiding. When the Secret Service officer heard the gun click, he opted to shoot Pickett — fearing for the safety of the officers.

Moser also says Pickett had twice fired his own gun. Officers saw him fire one of the shots, while an investigation turned up the second.

While they wait for his arraignment, authorities have been exploring Pickett's possible motives.

An accountant, Pickett was fired from his job with the Internal Revenue Service in the late 1980s. Neighbors said he resented the agency. Pickett lived by himself and acknowledged in court records that he suffered from mental illness and tried to commit suicide after his dismissal.

Police are studying a letter written just two weeks ago by Pickett, reports CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr. In the letter, he complained to government officials, writing "My life has been destroyed."

Pickett also suggested he would die soon and warned, "My death is on your hands."

President Bush was listed among those copied in on the letter, which was sent to The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press. It was not known whether the president received it.

"I think he meant to hurt himself," Joseph Yocum, an Evansville, Ind. lawyer who represented Pickett when he lost his IRS job, told CBS News.

Yocum said his former client was "very disturbed. I think that for want of a better way of putting it he was upset more than most people would be, although most people would be upset, over losing his job."

During the incident outside the White House, Pickett also put the barrel of the weapon in his mouth, U.S. Park Police spokesman Rob MacLean said.