The White House has apparently undergone a few serious security problems. A man, named Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fired seven bullets from his car, directed at the White House, in 2011. At that time, fortunately President Obama was not at the White House, nor was his wife Michelle and their older daughter Malia. However, the shots were heard by their younger daughter Sasha and Mrs. Obama’s mother, who were inside during the incident. It took the Secret Service four days to figure out that there had been fire shots aimed at the White House.
Last Friday, a similarly disturbing incident took place. A strange man jumped the White House fence and managed to run up to the front door. The man had a knife on him. The ease with which such an incident was able to take place, raise a few question which led to disturbing information. There had been a few such incidents, which were not handled well enough by the President’s Secret Services. The Ortega-Hernandez incident was initially denied. The shooting was not even taken into account, except after four days. Even then, it was discovered only because one of the maids working in the White House noticed the shattered window glass in one of the rooms. During the incident, Ortega-Hernandez had parked his car outside the White House. He pointed his semi-automatic rifle out the window and aimed directly at the White House. Some of the bullets got stuck in one of the window frames, while others hit the roof. The damage was estimated at about $100,000.
The attacker was arrested one day after having spotted the damages done to the White House. The only reason why he was caught was because he had crashed his car somewhere nearby the White House, and police were able to find the rifle still inside the vehicle. He got 25 years in prison, mainly because he admitted to having shot his rifle at the White House.
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A Secret Service official, who wished to remain anonymous commented on the incident and said that the events from that certain evening were not due to incompetence. He also stated that it was an uncertain context since there had been shots echoing that evening from a quarter mile away and witness reports were not very clear at that point. More on the shootings which took place on the 11th of November 2011 were discussed in an investigation done by The Washington Post.