US Park Police initially arrested Kandula on a number of fees, together with threatening to kill or hurt a president, vice chairman or member of the family.
It’s doable that prosecutors add further fees because the case progresses.
Kandula, in handcuffs and sporting a t-shirt and shorts, appeared in DC Superior Court Tuesday afternoon, US Park Police informed CNN, and was held in custody with out bail.
He has not but entered a proper plea in federal court docket – the place his case is predicted to proceed with an preliminary look on the only cost Wednesday – and a lawyer for him in that case has not but been named publicly.
The Secret Service stated no company or White House personnel had been injured within the incident.
The truck, which carried a Nazi flag amongst different gadgets, crashed into safety boundaries on the north facet of Lafayette Square at sixteenth Street simply earlier than 10 pm ET, the US Secret Service stated.
A preliminary investigation revealed the motive force could have deliberately struck the barrier, the company later stated.
Kandula made threatening feedback relating to the White House on the scene, together with that he needed to kidnap and hurt President Joe Biden, regulation enforcement sources informed CNN.
Authorities are contemplating the position psychological well being could have performed on this incident, one supply stated.
In court docket paperwork unsealed Tuesday, investigators stated {that a} US Park Police officer noticed Kandula drive up onto the sidewalk and into metallic boundaries, sending a number of pedestrians working.
When the truck did not undergo the boundaries, Kandula allegedly backed up earlier than putting the boundaries a second time.
After the crash, Kandula allegedly eliminated the flag “from a black backpack he was carrying”.
In an interview after the arrest, investigators requested Kandula concerning the Nazi flag he displayed after the crash.
The 19-year-old stated he purchased the flag as a result of “Nazi’s have a great history,” including that he admires their “authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order,” based on court docket paperwork.
Investigators wrote that “when asked if he looks up to any leaders, Kandula answered ‘Hitler, because he was a strong leader'”.
Kandula informed officers that he had been planning the assault for six months and had flown to Washington from St Louis earlier that night, based on court docket paperwork.
Prosecutors stated Kandula additionally informed officers that he aimed to “get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,” and was ready to “kill the President if that’s what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way”.
The White House stated Biden was not at risk throughout the incident.
National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby informed CNN’s Kate Bolduan that it was “difficult to know for sure” what the suspect’s motivations had been and that the incident was nonetheless being investigated.
Video taken by a witness confirmed the 26-foot transferring truck stopped on the sidewalk close to Lafayette Square earlier than the motive force accelerates and crashes right into a set of safety bollards that ring the White House advanced to forestall unauthorised vehicular visitors.
After the crash, the truck was searched by bomb technicians and no explosives or incendiary gadgets had been discovered, a regulation enforcement supply conversant in the investigation informed CNN.
A Park Police officer was later seen taking stock of the U-Haul truck, packing up a number of items of proof.
The incident prompted street closures as authorities investigated the crash, and the close by Hay-Adams resort was evacuated on the request of the Secret Service, a resort worker informed CNN.
The resort friends and staff had been allowed again in when police deemed it secure a short while later.
The FBI’s National Capital Response Squad is helping Park Police and the Secret Service within the investigation.
Agents from the US Secret Service and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force on Tuesday executed a federal search warrant at Kandula’s Missouri dwelling, based on a federal regulation enforcement official.
They looked for notes, computer systems or any proof of planning that led as much as or motive behind Monday’s occasions.
Former highschool classmates of Kandula described him as quiet and somebody who did not get into hassle.
Errion Barfield, a former classmate of Kandula’s at Marquette High School, described him as a “good dude” who “never got in trouble” and “never made a scene in school.”
Source: www.9news.com.au
