A man attempted to scale the White House fence before Secret Services agents tackled him to the ground.
The man started to climb on an outer fence on the South Grounds of the presidential residence in Washington DC around 4.20pm on Monday, Feb. 3.
He walked past a group of bystanders, cried out “f*** it”, and began to climb the wrought iron barrier, witness David Stanley told Fox 5.
Secret Service officers descended on the area where the man was climbing as rooftop snipers were ‘scurrying around’, Stanley claims. K-9 officers also rushed the lawn.
The man, whose identity has not been released, was taken into custody. It is unclear if he will be charged in the incident.
Officials have not yet said why the suspect attempted to climb the fence and the incident is under a ‘protective operations review’ by the Secret Service, per agency protocol.
President Donald Trump was at the White House on Monday and spoke to reporters in the Oval Office after signing a series of executive orders and proclamations.
It is unclear if he was in the presidential residence at the time of the incident.
The White House and it’s 18-acre grounds are protected by a 13ft wrought iron fence that was built during Trump’s first presidential term.
Officials concluded a taller fence was needed during the Obama Administration after a series of security breaches – including in September 2014, when a Texas man carrying a knife scaled the fence, sprinted across the North Lawn and entered the White House.
That incident led security officials to put in place a second, shorter barrier – made of metal bike racks – several feet in front of the current fence. Potential jumpers would essentially have separate fences to scale – the bike racks and the actual fence.
