Accused White House intruder heavily armed during arrest months earlier

Published 9:13 am Tuesday, September 23, 2014

WASHINGTON — Two months before Omar J. Gonzalez allegedly hopped a White House fence, dashed across the North Lawn and entered the executive mansion, he was arrested in rural Virginia, heavily armed and carrying a map of Washington tucked inside a Bible — with a circle drawn around the White House.

The 42-year-old Army veteran from Copperas Cove, Texas, had been arrested July 19 in rural southwestern Virginia after a state trooper received a call about a man in a Ford Bronco driving erratically. He was taken into custody after a brief pursuit and a trooper found an illegal, sawed-off shotgun in the gray sport utility vehicle, according to Wythe County Deputy Commonwealth Attorney David Saliba.

After his arrest, troopers and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found weapons that included two semi-automatic, military-style rifles, including one with a bipod and flashlight and one with a bipod and scope; three .45-caliber handguns; and several loaded ammunition magazines. Saliba said Gonzalez also had a hatchet and camping equipment.

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Gonzalez was released from jail in Virginia on $5,000 bond and last appeared in court Sept. 11. He did not enter a plea in that case.

Authorities ran into Gonzalez again on Aug. 25, when he was stopped while walking by the south fence of the White House, his car parked nearby. He had a hatchet in his waistband but no firearms, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Mudd said during a brief court hearing Monday.