Police cordon off White House (archive)
Police cordon off White House (archive)AFP photo

A woman was arrested for carrying a gun outside the White House on Thursday night, the Secret Service revealed Friday, and has since refused to cooperate with police. 

April Lenhart, 23, from Mount Morris, Michigan, was taking part in a protest along the north fence Thursday night as US President Barack Obama was completing a nationwide address on immigration inside.

Plainclothes Secret Service agents then spotted a holstered handgun on her hip at about 8:28 p.m. EST, an agent revealed to NBC News. She was arrested on charges of carrying an unregistered firearm, possession of unregistered ammunition, and carrying a pistol without a license. 

A second person who was with her was not arrested. Agents have stated that Lenhart is not cooperating with police.

This is the second incident of an arrest for weapons charges outside the White House this week. On Wednesday night, an Iowa man, 41 year-old R.J. Kapheim, was arrested after the Secret Service found a hunting rifle, dozens of rounds of ammunition and a knife in the trunk of his car.

Kapheim claimed he had been called by Obama for an appointment with the President in remarks made to Secret Service officers before he personally showed them the vehicle. 

The Secret Service has been widely criticized in recent months after a series of serious security breaches. In September a Texas man armed with a knife was able to climb over a White House fence and made it deep into the executive mansion.

It was later revealed that the man, Omar Gonzalez, got far further into the building than initially said

According to an executive summary of a Homeland Security review of that incident, some officers on the White House grounds that night thought thick bushes near the building's front door would stop the intruder. They were also surprised when he was able to walk through a pair of doors, which were unlocked.

In October, a man jumped the White House fence and was attacked by Secret Service dogs before being arrested.

In another incident, an armed contractor with a criminal record was allowed to get into an elevator with President Barack Obama during a trip to the Centers for Disease Control.