White House Intruder Was Army Vet

Omar Gonzalez, the man who breached heavy security to reach the doors of the White House while carrying a knife, is a former soldier who is in dire need of help for mental issues, according to his ex-wife. A uniformed Secret Service officer apprehended Gonzalez on the evening of Sept. 19, after viewing the man scale the White House’s north fence along Pennsylvania Avenue. Gonzalez told a Secret Service agent later that he entered the White House because “he was concerned that the atmosphere was collapsing and needed to get the information to the President of the United States so that he could get the word out to the people,” Secret Service agent Daniel Hochman stated in a sworn affidavit filed Sept. 20 in federal court in Washington, D.C. Gonzalez is being held in custody pending an Oct. 1 court hearing.