The emerging story on Omar Gonzales and his fence-jumping stunt on Friday at the White House is getting worse and worse. It appears as though there have been failures before that led to Gonzales' attempt to get inside the White House with a knife on Friday.
Reuters, via Yahoo News:
The man who scaled the fence and ran into the White House on Friday night had more than 800 rounds of ammunition in his car and had been arrested in July with a sniper rifle and a map marking the executive mansion, a federal prosecutor said on Monday.
Omar Gonzalez, 42, was also stopped, but not arrested in August walking by the White House with a hatchet, the U.S. Attorney's office said in Washington.
I could almost forgive the hatchet incident, but how does a guy get arrested in July with a sniper rifle and a map marking the White House, and run free to walk around with a hatchet in August, and then ultimately jump the White House fence in September with a knife in his pocket?
Can we at least say that a dude with a sniper rifle and a map with a big fat "X" marking the spot where the President lives might need to stay put until he's had a trial and/or a mental health evaluation?
Can we say that much? Or are we just doomed to accept the fact that the leader of the free world is at risk from lunatics with far too much access to guns and ammo while judges shrug and look the other way at what his intentions might have been two months ago?
This is seriously out of control.