The suspect himself approached a security officer who was patrolling outside the presidential residence Saturday afternoon, and told him of his plan. “I have a knife to do it with,” he said, according to a police report seen by AP.
Police identified the man as 25-year-old Roger Hedgpeth, who was arrested on charges of making threats to cause bodily harm. The man had a 3.5-inch (around 9-cm) knife on him as well as an empty pistol holster.
After the arrest, Hedgpeth was taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation. It turned out that he was a “critically missing/endangered person as well as a mental health consumer” from Brandon, Florida. It’s currently unclear how long he was missing and how was he able to cover the 1,500 km separating Brandon and Washington, DC.
According to his schedule, President Trump was likely inside the White House at the moment of the incident. However, he had no appearances outside the residence planned during the day.