“The family’s hope is that this sad event brings awareness to the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, “and the need for proper treatment.”
“Omar is not some maniac,” he added. “He’s a veteran who needs help.”
He is a two tour Iraq veteran diagnosed with PTSD on his first tour but sent back. Then had became an amputee. Then he was discharged to become a homeless veteran!
How safe are we when someone can hop the White House fence, run across the lawn and make it into the White House?
White House Intruder Had Knife, Claims to Be Iraq Vet
ABC News
Arlette Saenz
Digital Journalist
WASHINGTON — Sep 20, 2014
The man who jumped over a White House fence and made it all the way inside the executive mansion before being caught was carrying a 3 1/2-inch knife and told officials he was a veteran of three tours in Iraq, according to the complaint released today.
Gonzalez was arrested just after going through the North Portico doors of the White House.
In the wake of the incident Friday night, the Secret Service announced it is stepping up its security procedures at the White House complex.
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson ordered an immediate increase in "officer patrols and surveillance capabilities along the Pennsylvania Avenue fence line" of the White House complex, the Secret Service said Saturday.
The steps went into effect Friday night after Omar Gonzalez, 42, scaled the White House fence, sprinted across the North Lawn, and entered the White House.
The Secret Service dealt with a second security incident in as many days on Saturday after a man was arrested at the White House after trying to enter a barricaded entrance to the White House complex with his car.
Gonzalez was carrying a three and a half inch Spyderco VG-10 black serrated folding knife in his front pants pocket when he was arrested, according to a police affidavit.
On Friday, Secret Service Spokesman Ed Donovan had initially said Gonzalez was unarmed at the time of his arrest.
The affidavit says after he was apprehended, Gonzalez, of Copperas Cove, Texas, told a Secret Service agent "he was concerned that the atmosphere was collapsing and need to get the information to the President of the United States so that he could get the word out to people."
He told officials he served 18 years in the military and did three tours in Iraq, according to the affidavit. He said he lived in Washington, D.C., for three months but has no known address.
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