Secret Service says suspect in White House shooting arrested at Pennsylvania hotel
Bullet stopped by ballistic glass
11/16/2011
associated press
This image provided by the U.S. Park Police shows an undated image of Oscar Ortega.
WASHINGTON — Authorities have arrested a man wanted in connection with an investigation of a shooting near the White House on Friday night.
The U.S. Secret Service said Pennsylvania authorities arrested Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez on Wednesday afternoon at a hotel near Indiana, Pa.
A bullet hit an exterior window of the White House and was stopped by ballistic glass, the Secret Service said.
An additional round of ammunition was found on the White House exterior. The bullets were found Tuesday morning.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, Edwin Donovan, declined to answer additional questions about the incident including the caliber of the recovered bullets or what room of the White House was behind the window that was hit, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.
The discovery follows reports of gunfire near the White House on Friday night. Witnesses heard shots and saw two speeding vehicles in the area. An assault rifle was also recovered.
President Barack Obama, who was headed to a summit in Hawaii, was not at the home at the time of the shooting.
The Secret Service said it has not conclusively connected Friday's incident with the bullets found at the White House. Previously, authorities had said the White House did not appear to have been targeted Friday night.
After the gunfire was reported, police said they found an abandoned car Friday night near the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge that crosses the Potomac River to Virginia.
U.S. Park Police spokesman Sgt. David Schlosser has said items found in the vehicle led investigators to Ortega. The suspect hasn't been linked to any radical organizations but does have an arrest record in three states, Schlosser said Monday.
In 2010, there were a series of pre-dawn shootings at military buildings in the Washington area, including the Pentagon and the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Police charged a Marine Corps reservist with those shootings earlier this year. The suspect, Yonathan Melaku of Alexandria, Va., remains in custody.