Early Thursday morning, a vehicle attempted to enter the White House complex after following another vehicle – which was authorized to enter the complex – through a security checkpoint.
The incident caused several streets in Washington, D.C. to be closed temporarily, and the person who attempted to enter the White House complex was taken into custody, The Washington Post reported. It was around 4:45 a.m. when Joy Ihuoma Utokanandu, a 42-year-old from Grand Prairie, TX, attempted to trail another vehicle through a security checkpoint. Officials with the Secret Service released a statement on the incident on Twitter a few hours later.
“An unauthorized vehicle attempted to gain entry to the White House complex by following another vehicle that was lawfully entering at an external complex checkpoint,” the statement said. “The vehicle was stopped and the individual was immediately taken into custody by Secret Service U.D. Officers.”
Utokanandu’s actions caused several streets near the White House to shut down for nearly two hours. A section of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street NW were both part of the shutdown.
NBC News reported that in addition to the Secret Service, the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department and a bomb disposal team also responded to the incident. The outlet also included a photo from the incident of Utokanandu’s black Mercedes SUV “surrounded by luggage and what appears to be piles of colorful material.”
At this time, no motive has been established.
Earlier this year, a man was arrested after gaining access to a restricted area near the White House. The man said in court documents reviewed by NBC4 that he was trying to take President Donald Trump two bottles of Crown Royal. The man, Yianny Georgopoulos, moved a bike rack with a “No trespassing authorized personnel only” sign on it in order to get into the restricted area.
Trump famously doesn’t drink.
In January 2019, a 21-year-old man was arrested for allegedly planning to attack the White House and other government buildings. NBC News reported at the time that Hasher Jallal Taheb, from Georgia, was arrested after a yearlong investigation into the alleged planning of his attack.
No one could forget the death of Miriam Carey, who drove her car into the White House back in 2013 and then led police through the streets of Washington, D.C., until she was gunned down. Carey had her infant daughter in the back seat of her vehicle and appeared to have suffered from postpartum depression with psychosis. She had previously believed President Barack Obama had wiretapped her home.
Also during the Obama administration, a man landed a gyrocopter on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol in 2015. Sixty-two-year-old Douglas Hughes, a formal postal worker, pleaded guilty to flying the vehicle without the proper licensing. He was sentenced to four months in prison in 2016. Hughes apparently did not realize how dangerous his flight would be or how D.C. residents would view his intentions.