Two Arrests Made After Incident Triggering White House Lockdown

Two individuals have been arrested after two incidents nearby the White House on Monday, one of which sent it into lockdown. Authorities made the first arrest of an individual in connection with the silver sedan that plowed into an informational sign at Lafayette Square Park. Video shows the smoldering vehicle as authorities tell the individual to get on the ground. In another video, the individual can be heard yelling, “Oh my God.” According to a Secret Service spokesperson, the incident occurred right before 10 a.m. Eastern, triggering a response from both Secret Service Police as well as the National Guard. The spokesperson described the driver of the vehicle as “combative with law enforcement.” “Just before 10:00 a.m., Secret Service Police and National Guard responded to the north side of Lafayette Park at 16th Street and H Street, NW, where a vehicle crashed onto the sidewalk. The driver was combative with law enforcement, but was quickly placed under arrest,” the spokesperson said. “MPD’s Explosive Ordinance Disposal team has been called to sweep the vehicle as a precaution. Subsequently, roads around Lafayette Park have been closed,” the spokesperson continued. Around the same time of the vehicle incident, another individual “jumped a barricade near the northwest corner of Lafayette Park,” according to the spokesperson, who noted that the individual was “quickly placed under arrest” as well. President Donald Trump was said to be in the White House at the time of the incidents. It remains unclear if the two individuals and their actions are connected. The incidents remain under investigation. The two incidents Monday follow Secret Service stopping what could have been another tragedy near the White House last Thursday, when they arrested an “illegal alien from Venezuela who was heavily armed and openly declared his intent to assassinate President Donald Trump,” as Breitbart News reported. The individual was identified as 22-year-old Venezuelan national Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos, who illegally entered the U.S. in 2024 and was caught and subsequently released by the Biden administration. “Thanks to our brave Secret Service officers, this illegal alien with three firearms in his vehicle was arrested near the White House before he could harm anyone,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “On top of threatening President Trump, he is an illegal alien from Venezuela who had no business being in our country in the first place.”