US Secret Service detains man with package outside White House
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US Secret Service detains man with package outside White House

Presidential complex goes into lockdown as suspect is nabbed by officers after approaching them with suspicious bag

By AFP and TOI staff 28 March 2017, 8:18 pm 0 Edit
A Secret Service officer stands outside the locked door of the press briefing room during a lockdown for a suspicious package near the White House grounds in Washington, DC, March 28, 2017. (AFP/Jim Watson)
A Secret Service officer stands outside the locked door of the press briefing room during a lockdown for a suspicious package near the White House grounds in Washington, DC, March 28, 2017. (AFP/Jim Watson)

WASHINGTON — The US Secret Service detained a male suspect carrying a package and making “suspicious comments” near the White House Tuesday, according to an official who said the man was taken into custody and explosives experts were deployed.

A Secret Service official said the suspect had approached uniformed officers near 15th and Pennsylvania at around 10:15 a.m., a block from the White House.

In a series of tweets to its official Twitter account, the Secret Service announced that “members of the public and media are being moved to a safe distance.”

The man was separated from the package and detained in a police vehicle, a security perimeter was established, and “the package is now in Secret Service custody,” the official said, asking not to be named.

Fox News, citing an agency source, reported that the suspect had told officers he had a bomb in the bag.

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