Washington: A woman was caught by US Secret Service here while trying to climb over the White House fence when President Donald Trump was inside, media reports said on Wednesday.
“Secret Service responding to an individual who jumped the bike rack along the North Fence Line of Penn Ave. Suspect in custody,” the Secret Service said on its Twitter account.
It led to a lockdown at the North Fence of the White House along Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday.
Officers from the Secret Service’s uniformed division apprehended the woman before she could make it over the fence. She was charged with unlawful entry, The New York Times reported.
The woman was not immediately identified. President Trump was inside at the time, and much of the West Wing was still occupied with White House staff members.
There have been a string of attempts to scale the fence this spring, at least one of which was successful.
On March 10, a California man scaled a series of barriers and remained on the White House grounds for 17 minutes before he was stopped by the authorities.
The Secret Service is still investigating that incident, and has already fired at least two officers who were on duty that night.
The agency also recently took steps to restrict public access to the sidewalk along the grounds’ southern fence line.
White House fence jumpers are not uncommon, but it is rare for an attempt to come during the day, when the White House is fully occupied.
