Report: Bullet hit window where Obamas live
Mark Segraves, wtop.com
WASHINGTON - UPDATE: Authorities are investigating two bullets that hit the White House, one of them apparently cracking a window on the residential level where President Barack Obama and his family live.
The Secret Service was investigating Wednesday whether the shots were connected to reports of shots fired last week while Obama was headed to a summit in Hawaii. The Secret Service said it discovered the bullets Tuesday.
Federal officials have now set up a joint task force to investigate last week's shooting. Local police have been warned the suspect should be considered unstable.
Lindsay Godwin, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington Field Office, tells WTOP the task force includes the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Metropolitan Police Department, U.S. Park Police and Secret Service.
The Secret Service continues to look for evidence on the grounds of the White House. On Wednesday, officials could be seen taking photographs of a window on the south face of the executive mansion. The window is in the center of the rounded portico.
No one was injured when the shots were fired.
"An assessment of the exterior of the White House is ongoing," Secret Service spokesperson Megan Moloney says in a statement emailed to reporters.
"A round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass," she says. "One additional round has been found on the exterior of the White House. This damage has not been conclusively connected to Friday's incident."
The discovery follows reports of gunfire near the White House on Friday night. Witnesses heard shots and saw two speeding vehicles in the area. An assault rifle was also recovered.
Sources familiar with the investigation say the task force will meet Wednesday to coordinate the investigation. Local police agencies in the area are helping in the search for the man suspected of firing the shots.
U.S. Park Police identified him as Oscar Ramiro Ortega, 21. Park Police have a warrant charging him with carrying a dangerous weapon, a felony.
A Secret Service spokesman identified the suspect as Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, saying that is the name on his driver's license.
Ortega is believed to be living in the Washington area with ties to Idaho. Police agencies are being told to consider him dangerous and unstable.
The suspect is described as Hispanic, 5 feet 11 inches tall, 160 pounds, with a medium build, brown eyes and black hair.
He has several very distinctive tattoos. On his right hand, he has three dots. On his upper back, he has one that says, "Ortega." The tattoo on the right side of his chest is of rosary beads and hands clasped in prayer. He also has a tattoo of folded hands on the left side of his chest, and "Israel" tattooed on the left side of his neck.
After the Friday gunfire was reported, police said they found an abandoned car Friday night near the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge that crosses the Potomac River to Virginia.
U.S. Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser has said items found in the vehicle led investigators to Ortega. The suspect hasn't been linked to any radical organizations but does have an arrest record in three states, Schlosser said Monday.
Arlington Police Lt. Joe Kantor said Ortega was stopped Friday morning in north Arlington after a citizen called in a report of somebody "circling the area."
When police stopped Ortega, he was on foot and had an out of state address, Kantor said. Police took photos of him but had no cause to detain him, Kantor said.
ABC News has learned authorities are increasingly concerned that a man sought in connection with a bizarre shooting incident on the Washington Mall last week may pose a threat to President Obama.
The Secret Service now suspects that a bullet fired in this incident may have hit the White House after a bullet round was found in a White House window, though the round had not yet been conclusively linked to the incident. The round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass, while an additional round has been found on the exterior of the White House.
Police believe the suspect, 21-year-old Oscar Ramiro Ortega of Idaho, is mentally ill. Ortega has an extensive record, ranging from domestic violence to drug charges. Sources say a police investigation has uncovered evidence suggesting Ortega has a fixation on the White House.
At 9:30 p.m. Friday, police received reports of shots fired in the bustling area of 16th street and Constitution Ave.
Authorities would later find a car in the area. The suspect had fled, but what police discovered inside the vehicle left them deeply concerned: an assault style rifle and empty shell casings.
Police linked the car to Ortega and have been hunting him ever since.
It’s unclear whether Ortega is capable of launching a sophisticated attack, but police are still fearful of what he might do next.
Authorities suspect Ortega has been in the area for weeks, coming back and forth to the Washington Mall. Before the shooting, he was detained by local police at an abandoned house. U.S. Park police say Ortega may have spent time blending in with Occupy D.C. protesters.
President Obama, who is currently on a visit to Australia, was not present at the White House at the time of the incident, and in fact has been out of town for the past week. Secret Service officials are not taking any chances with the security of the President and the White House, though, and want Ortega off the street.
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1 comment:
Glad to hear that nobody was hurt.
Note to leftists who come into contact with a firearm for the very first time:
-Don't pick it up.
-Don't point the narrow end at other persons or valuable property.
-Don't attempt to use it to make any sort of political statement however retarded.
-And if you must pick it up, please wash your hands first to help keep it in good working order.
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