Armed Man Arrested Near White House After Allegedly Saying Voices Told Him to Kill Trump

Secret Service officers arrested an armed man in a stolen car parked near the White House on Thursday night after he allegedly told them voices in his head were telling him to travel to Washington and kill President Donald Trump. No shots were fired, nobody was hurt, and the president was never in danger — but the arrest, announced by the Department of Homeland Security on Friday, is the latest in a series of security scares around the White House.

What happened on Constitution Avenue

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Secret Service officers approached the man on Thursday evening after noticing him acting suspiciously in a car parked on Constitution Avenue, alongside the White House. A court affidavit cited by several outlets says the man, 26-year-old Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos, was asleep inside a blue Ford F-150 when officers reached him at about 11:42 p.m. local time.

When officers confronted him, DHS said, he told them he had heard voices in his head telling him to come to Washington and kill President Trump. He then admitted through Google Translate that he had weapons in the vehicle and wanted to hand them over to the government, according to the affidavit. A search of the car found three firearms — an AR-15-style rifle, a MAC-10 handgun and a Glock 43X pistol — along with dozens of rounds of ammunition. Officers also discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen.

Who the suspect is

DHS identified the man as a Venezuelan national who entered the United States illegally through Texas in March 2024, was arrested by the Border Patrol, and was then released into the country. The department's statement attributes that release to the previous administration. He has been charged with a long list of offences, including carrying a rifle outside a home or business, three counts of unlawful transportation of a firearm, three counts of possessing unregistered firearms, three counts of possessing unregistered ammunition, possession of certain dangerous weapons, carrying a pistol without a license, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, theft and receiving stolen property. Immigration authorities have lodged a detainer, and he is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised the officers, saying in the DHS statement that the suspect "was arrested near the White House before he could harm anyone." Secret Service Director Sean Curran also commended the officers for de-escalating what could have been a volatile situation. The White House itself issued no separate comment, referring questions to DHS and the Secret Service.

Why it matters

The arrest lands in a week already dominated by White House news — Donald Trump has just named Stephen Miller his new chief of staff — and it underlines how exposed the streets around the White House remain, even with one of the most heavily guarded perimeters in the world. A man allegedly carrying three guns and dozens of rounds got within a few hundred metres of the president's residence before anyone stopped him — and was stopped only because officers noticed something odd about a parked car.

It also comes amid a run of threats and security incidents involving Trump and his family since he returned to the White House last year, as reported by the Times of India. Each one is contained quickly; each one also raises the same question about how a lone individual with a grievance — or, in this case, according to DHS, voices in his head — can get so close. For now, the system worked as designed: officers spotted the anomaly, talked first, and made the arrest without a shot being fired.

Thursday night ended without violence, and that is the point the authorities are making. But the episode is a reminder that the most dangerous threats to a president are not always organised plots — sometimes they are a single person, a stolen truck and three guns, parked in plain sight. The case now moves to the courts, where the charges — not the alleged motive — will decide what happens to Chrinos next.

Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Times of India.