A Missouri man has been arrested after police suspect he purposefully crashed a U-Haul truck into a security barrier at a park across from the White House.
The driver of the box truck crashed into the barrier at the north side of Lafayette Square on Monday around 10 p.m., according to a Secret Service statement. Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb, was recognized.
The crash caused no injuries
Kandula left the truck with a Nazi flag and began ranting as Park Police and Secret Service officials approached him, according to two people familiar with the situation. Kandula told investigators that he was there to take over the country and that he wanted to kill President Joe Biden, the people said. The people were not authorized to publicly discuss specific details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The company said that Kandula had a legitimate contract in his own name when he hired the U-Haul truck from them in Herndon, Virginia. According to U-Haul, people must be 18 to hire a truck, and there were no red flags on his rental record that would have precluded the contract.
According to Chris Zaboji, a witness, the motorist hit the barrier at least twice. Zaboji, a 25-year-old pilot from Washington, was concluding a run near Lafayette Square when he heard the U-Haul vehicle collide with the barrier. He said he took out his phone and recorded the moment the truck hit the barrier again before hearing sirens.
“When the van backed up and rammed it again, I decided I wanted to get out of there,” he said.
Investigation Findings and White House Response
Following the incident, officers from the Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department searched the truck. A police officer at the site is seen in a video obtained by WUSA-TV gathering up and inventorying multiple pieces of evidence from the truck, including a Nazi banner.
According to preliminary findings, the motorist “may have intentionally struck the security barriers at Lafayette Square,” according to the Secret Service. Authorities provided no additional information regarding probable motivation.
Kandula was detained on various offenses, including threatening to kill, abduct, or inflict harm on a president, vice president, or member of their family; assault with a dangerous weapon; reckless driving; destruction of government property; and trespassing, according to the US Park Police.
The Secret Service and Park Police briefed Biden on the collision Tuesday morning, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “He’s relieved that no one was injured last night,” she said.
Investigation and Potential Motives
The US Secret Service monitors hundreds of people who have made threats to the president, but it’s unclear whether Kandula was on their radar at all, or if he had previously threatened the president, triggering the Secret Service’s participation.
Kandula’s attorney was not mentioned in court documents, and various phone lines listed under his surname in public records were out of service on Tuesday. Attempts by The Associated Press to locate a family who may speak on his behalf were not immediately successful.
People at a Missouri home linked to Kandula refused to speak with the Associated Press reporter.
Lafayette Square, which boasts possibly the best public view of the White House, has long been one of the nation’s most renowned demonstration sites.
The park was closed for over a year when federal officials fenced it off during the height of nationwide protests over policing in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, but it reopened in May 2021. U-Haul is a Phoenix-based moving truck, trailer, and self-storage rental firm.