A 21-year-old man was charged on Thursday with trying to assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama by opening fire on the White House with an assault rifle, Reuters reported.
The shooter, Oscar Ortega-Hernandez who was arrested on Wednesday at a hotel in Pennsylvania, reportedly referred to Obama as the “devil”.
Ortega-Hernandez appeared before a federal magistrate judge in Pittsburgh on Thursday, who ordered him transferred to Washington.
No one was hurt in the shooting incident which occurred last Friday night. The Secret Service said one bullet broke a White House window but was stopped by protective ballistic glass, and the other round struck the exterior of the building.
Authorities later found a car in the area. While the suspect had fled, police discovered an assault-style rifle and empty shell casings inside the vehicle. They quickly linked the car to Ortega-Hernandez and started searching for him.
Reuters reported that FBI investigators who scoured the White House grounds on Wednesday found several bullet impacts on the south side of the executive mansion on the second story or above. The president’s family quarters are on those upper floors, a fact which led investigators to believe the shooter had been a threat to Obama.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, were not in Washington at the time of the shooting and no one was hurt.
If convicted, Ortega-Hernandez faces up to life in prison.