A woman claiming to be delivering a letter to President Biden was arrested near the White House with a loaded gun in her car, according to reports.
The woman, identified as 66-year-old Sylvia Hall, was arrested at a checkpoint on Saturday evening around 5.30 p.m. on the east side of the White House complex near the Old Ebbitt Grill restaurant on 15 Street NW.
She was charged with carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and possession of unregistered ammunition. Hall was accompanied with a man in the car who was also carrying a BB gun. The man was arrested for having a BB gun, and has yet to be identified.
They Claimed They Were There to Meet Biden
"They were there to meet with the President of the United States and had a letter to deliver to him," police said. "One of the individuals disclosed the possession of a weapon and was immediately detained and the second individual disclosed the location of an additional weapon in a vehicle nearby," a Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement obtained by NBC Washington. Secret Service agents then searched Hall's car, which was parked nearby, and found a loaded gun, the agency said.
Armed Virginia Man Arrested with 'Fake' Inauguration ID Last Month
Last month, Police arrested a man with a handgun and 500 rounds of ammunition at a checkpoint in Washington, D.C., set up ahead of Biden's inauguration. Wesley Allen Beeler of Front Royal, Virginia, was charged with carrying a pistol without a license after being stopped at the checkpoint near the U.S. Capitol on Friday. Additionally, police found a twenty-one 12 gauge shotgun shell, and a handgun magazine in the vehicle.
According to court documents, Beeler approached the checkpoint but did not have valid credentials to gain entry into the area. However, a law enforcement official at the time noted that he tried to get inside the perimeter using a valid credential for Biden's inauguration, though it was not issued by the government and was not recognized by the Secret Service agents, as previously reported.
