A 19-year-old Indian-origin teen crashed a rented U-Haul truck into a White House barrier on the north side of Lafayette Park, causing panic among pedestrians at the scene. US Park Police arrested Sai Varshith Kandula, who told authorities that he wanted to get inside the mansion to "seize power" and "kill" US President Joe Biden, according to media reports.
The incident happened shortly before 10 pm on Monday, The Washington Times reported. The crash was a reasonable distance from the White House gates but alerted security and prompted road and sidewalk closures, while the nearby Hay-Adams hotel had to be evacuated.
President Joe Biden was in the White House when the truck crashed outside, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the media on Tuesday. No one was injured in the crash.
Kandula, who resides in Chesterfield, Missouri, rented the truck that night immediately after flying from St Louis to Dulles International Airport on a one-way ticket, a Secret Service agent said in a statement of facts filed in federal district court in Washington DC after interviewing him, as reported by NBC News.
He drove the vehicle onto a sidewalk outside the White House and into a metal barrier just north of the White House. Then, he reversed the truck and crashed into the barrier a second time before the US Park Police officers nabbed him and took him into custody, according to the statement.
Planning for 6 months
According to the Secret Service document, Kandula said he had been planning the attack for six months. He allegedly detailed the plans in a "green book".
He "stated his goal was to 'get into the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation'," according to the document, reported NBC News.
"When agents asked how he would seize power, Kandula stated he would 'kill the President if that's what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way.'"
The document was included with a criminal complaint charging Kandula with depredation of property of the United States over USD 1,000, NBC News reported.
Nazi flag
According to media reports, the suspect was carrying a Nazi flag, found on the site of the crash and later seized by authorities.
According to the court document, when Secret Service agents asked Kandula about a flag with a ‘Swastika’ that he removed from a backpack, he allegedly said he’d bought it online because Nazis “have a great history”.
He allegedly said he "admires their 'authoritarian nature, Eugenics, and their one world order,'" according to the document. Kandula identified Hitler as a "strong leader" he admires, according to the report.
In addition to the Nazi flag, investigators recovered duct tape, a backpack and a notebook filled with writing from inside the vehicle, FOX 5 DC reported.
Neighbours, friends in disbelief
In the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield, where Kandula lives, FBI agents were seen entering and leaving his home Tuesday. The suspect’s acquaintances struggled to link the alleged attack with the “chill” teen they know.
Police in Chesterfield have no records of any interaction with Kandula or calls for service to the family home, said Capt Daniel Dunn, Commander for the City of Chesterfield's Bureau of Criminal Investigations, adding that federal agents were now in charge of the investigation.
Kandula was a member of the sizable South Asian population of Chesterfield, a middle-class suburb about 32 kilometres west of St. Louis.
Errion Barfield, who was on the Marquette High School track team with Kandula, remembered him as quiet and unassuming. “He was nice and chill…Ain’t ever expected him to do something like that,” Barfield told NBC News in a Facebook message.
Pranav Nagila, who was a year ahead of Kandula, said he couldn’t make sense of his one-time schoolmate possibly having a Nazi flag in his possession.
“I didn’t see him as off-putting or anything like that,” said Nagila, who just finished his sophomore year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “He just seemed like a chill person."
A former classmate and friend of Kandula told New York Post newspaper that he’s worried about his state of mind. “I feel like something … either has gone badly internally inside him or maybe between the family.”
Kandula was “the quiet kid” who enjoyed tennis, according to Aniket Sharma. “He was never open to talking. And anytime I tried, he, it was just only small talk – never really anything deep. I always thought he was like a quiet, shy kid,” Sharma said.
Sharma, now a Missouri college student, also rejected the notion Kandula was a white supremacist or a neo-Nazi.
Kandula appeared in Washington DC Superior Court on Tuesday and is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court Wednesday afternoon. Investigators are probing whether mental health played a role.
(With PTI inputs)
