Hennepin County official recalls working at White House during Sept. 11 attacks

As the attacks on America on Sept. 11, 2001, unfolded, many feared the White House could be next. A Minnesota man who worked there that day said he was told to run for his life.

"The Secret Service burst into our office and said, 'Run for your life,'" said Tim Stout, the chief of staff for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

Memories of the attacks hit Stout's core.

"I have distinct memories of the women taking off high-heel shoes and throwing them on the north lawn to run faster so they could get out of the complex," said Stout.

In the early 2000s, Stout was a staff assistant under then-President George W. Bush in the White House. He was at work that day.

"People were on edge, nervous," he said. 

Stout said he was at the World Trade Center in New York just days before. 

"On Saturday, the 8th of September, I was at Windows on the World at the north tower of the World Trade Center," he said.

Stout says he was watching what was unfolding in New York on 9/11 on TV while at work inside the White House.

"Things got real when the Pentagon got hit," he added. "It was panic. We ran," he said.

Stout says he and others escaped and returned to work the next morning. On Friday, he showed WCCO a piece of the Pentagon he keeps with him and a certificate of recognition from Mr. Bush for his work during that time.

"I want to tell the story because there's a whole generation that doesn't know what it was like," Stout told WCCO. "As a kid from Stillwater, I get a little emotional."

"There was a time our country was unified," he said. "To be there was a tremendous honor."

Stout was eventually promoted to staff secretary in the Office of Homeland Security, a precursor to the Department of Homeland Security.