Secret Service has detained a driver who crashed a U-Haul truck into security barriers at Lafayette Square, near the White House grounds.
"Preliminary investigation reveals the driver may have intentionally struck the security barriers at Lafayette Square," said Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service.
After crashing one time, the driver rammed the barriers a second time, video of the Monday evening incident shows.
The driver, whose name has not been released, has been charged with "threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on the president, vice president or a family member, along with other counts including assault with a dangerous weapon and trespassing," The Washington Post reports.
🚨#BREAKING: A U-Haul truck rams into security barriers outside the White House
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 23, 2023
📌#Washington l #DC
Currently multiple law enforcements and the secret service along with bomb squad are on the scene after a U-Haul truck crashes and rams into security barriers outside near the… pic.twitter.com/QNO28VJMEx
A few other photos from the incident, one being the individual being arrested. pic.twitter.com/NdBoL9Bu8M
— Benjamin Berger (@BenB005) May 23, 2023
Bomb technicians did not find any explosive devices in the truck, though video shows law enforcement handling several pieces of evidence, including a Nazi flag, black backpack, and duct tape. The flag was then laid out on the ground, leading some Twitter users to question why, while others responded with memes of the "fed bois."
NEW: Investigators pulled what appears to be a Nazi flag out of the U-Haul, but they haven't provided any further details.
— Troy Pope (@troycpope) May 23, 2023
Here's what we know: https://t.co/cXt81Ji2NA pic.twitter.com/jBsb1uPJA3
You’re telling me someone drove a Uhaul with nothing but a Nazi flag in it, tried to ram it into the White House, got stuck on a curb, then the police spread out the flag on the pavement so the media can get it in the shot…
— ItsAScraperG ^^ Involuntary Grifter 🦁 (@ItsAScraperG) May 23, 2023
The Left needed a narrative change. They got it. pic.twitter.com/iWETUky14f
Here's a quick analysis: WHY?
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) May 23, 2023
Why crash a U-Haul truck with a "Nazi flag" into White House barriers?
What's the motive? Get arrested? For what?
Or maybe, hear me out, maybe this was staged by people who need "Nazi" bogeymen to distract us from failed policies. Just a thought. https://t.co/Pp2TeFTBFP
U-Haul White House pic.twitter.com/qeCmKHLZJm
— Edward (@edwardrussl) May 23, 2023
The incident comes after President Biden recently called white supremacy "the single most dangerous terrorist threat in our homeland."
Update: The driver has been identified as 19-year-old Sai Varshith Kandula of Chesterfield, Missouri.
The face of "white supremacy" pic.twitter.com/mo5K9BSM65
— Brenden Dilley (@WarlordDilley) May 23, 2023