Relatives: White House intruder needs help ADVERTISING Relatives: White House intruder needs help MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — An Iraq war veteran accused of scaling a fence and making it into the White House before the Secret Service stopped him owns
Relatives: White House intruder needs help
MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — An Iraq war veteran accused of scaling a fence and making it into the White House before the Secret Service stopped him owns several guns that he could have brought with him if he had meant to harm anyone, his former stepson said Sunday.
Omar Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Friday and is expected in federal court today to face charges of unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon — a small folding knife in this case.
Jerry Murphy, whose mother was married to Gonzalez for several years, said Gonzalez suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and that he needs treatment, not to be treated like a criminal. He said Gonzalez has been driving around the country and living out of his truck for the past couple of years, and that he always carries his knife.
“I know he’s got heavy artillery, you know? He’s got all kinds of weapons and he was trained to use them,” Murphy said. “I believe if he wanted to make a scene or cause problems, he very well could have. But it’s clear that he didn’t.”
The Secret Service has come under heavy criticism since the embarrassing security breach, which happened when the first family wasn’t at the White House. Secret Service Director Julia Pierson ordered increased surveillance and more officer patrols at the White House, as the agency investigates what went wrong.
The Army said Gonzalez enlisted in July 1997 and remained until completing his service obligation in September 2003. He reenlisted in July 2005 and served until his retirement in late 2012, serving in Iraq from October 2006 to January 2008.
The military does not provide details about a soldier’s disability due to privacy considerations. But Samantha Bell, who is Gonzalez’s ex-wife and Murphy’s mother, said Gonzalez was honorably discharged for medical reasons and suffered from plantar fasciitis on his feet, on which he had had some surgeries. She said he also suffered from PTSD, for which he had been prescribed several medications.
32 structures ruined
in California wildfire
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nearly three-dozen structures were destroyed in a massive Northern California wildfire that continues to spread more than a week after it started, officials said Sunday.
According to preliminary figures, 10 residences and 22 outbuildings were lost in the King Fire as the structures were discovered in the White Meadows area of Pollock Pines, said Capt. Tom Piranio, a state fire spokesman.
Assessment teams were headed back in the rugged, steep terrain to survey more damage, he said.
“It has been very challenging to get access to those burn areas because there’s a lot of inaccessible terrain,” Piranio said. “We had to make sure it was safe enough to enter.”
Smoky conditions from the fire also forced a last-minute cancellation of two popular Ironman events in nearby Lake Tahoe Sunday morning, Ironman operations manager Keats McGonigal said. About 3,000 athletes from around the world were expected to participate, but couldn’t due to poor air quality as the fire spread to the Tahoe National Forest northwest of Lake Tahoe over the weekend.
The fast-moving blaze located about 60 miles east of Sacramento that started Sept. 13 grew to more than 128 square miles Saturday despite periods of rain overnight. A man charged with starting the fire, Wayne Allen Huntsman, 37, pleaded not guilty to arson Friday and remains in the El Dorado County jail on $10 million bail.
More than 21,000 structures remain threatened as the blaze remains at 10 percent contained. More than 5,000 firefighters — from as far as Florida and Alaska — are helping California crews battle the blaze that has not only consumed grass and brush, but swaths of extremely dry tall timber.
