The White House was placed on a security lockdown on Monday after a driver crashed a car near Lafayette Square Park, just outside the complex.
The crash happened just before 10 AM, when a silver sedan crashed into a sign at the north end of the park, near 16th and H Streets NW. Videos on social media showed a man getting out of the smoking car and fighting with Secret Service officers and National Guard troops before he was taken into custody.
President Donald Trump was believed to be in the White House at the time.
What happened at the White House?
Reporters were told to stay inside the building. According to a White House press pool report, the Secret Service began directing journalists off the North Lawn shortly after 10:02 AM and ordered them to stay in the Briefing Room.
“We’re in security lockdown at White House, apparently while there’s an incident at Lafayette Square Park,” CBS News correspondent Jennifer Jacobs wrote on X.
The car doesn’t appear to have gotten close to the White House itself. A reporter at the scene said the man was yelling “Oh my God” as officers walked him away from the park.
What has the Secret Service said?
In a statement, the Secret Service said the driver was “combative with law enforcement” but was quickly arrested. As a precaution, Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department bomb squad swept the vehicle, and roads around Lafayette Park were closed.
Two arrests were made after two separate incidents near the White House. WRC-TV reported that another person tried to jump a security barrier on a different part of the perimeter around the same time, and authorities were working to determine whether the two incidents were connected.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement that the driver was an “illegal alien” with three firearms in the vehicle, and that he was arrested “before he could harm anyone.” The Secret Service hasn’t released the driver’s name or said what his motive may have been.
What do we know about Lafayette Park?
Lafayette Park sits one block north of the White House and has been the site of previous incidents. In 2023, a driver crashed a U-Haul truck into the barriers around Lafayette Square and told agents he wanted to “seize power,” according to reports at the time.
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