White House Lockdown Sparked by Man Attempting to Jump Fence

A lockdown at the White House was temporarily issued over the weekend after a man was arrested by the Secret Service for attempting to climb over a fence around the president's residence.

The unidentified man was in possession of two bags when he was restrained Friday afternoon while attempting to scale the White House' North Fence before being tackled by U.S. Park Police and Uniformed Division, the New York Daily News reported.

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The area around the White House was subsequently shut down and reporters were not allowed to leave through one of the gates because of the incident, Reuters reported.

At the time of the attempted White House breach, which was at approximately 2:45 p.m. EST, President Barack Obama was traveling in Michigan.

Authorities have yet to release any information as to the contents of the bags the man was carrying or what his intentions were if he was able to gain access to the White House.

In addition to putting the White House on lockdown, authorities also shut down Pennsylvania Avenue for more than an hour on Friday.

In recent years there have been several instances that caused alarm at the White House.

Last September, 52-year-old Alexander Sahagian threw firecrackers onto the North Lawn of the White House while standing outside the gate. The incident occurred just hours after a deadly shooting spree at the Navy Yard a few miles away.

PHOTO: Secret Service takes man into custody after allegedly throwing firecracker at White House - @AP - pic.twitter.com/jXGoLy9Vc4

— ABC Action News (@abcactionnews) September 16, 2013

In the same month, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, a 22-year-old from Idaho Falls, ID, pled guilty to carrying out a 2011 shooting at the White House, in which he fired a semi-automatic rifle at the building, aiming to assassinate the president. 

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The attack "was the culmination of several months during which the defendant fulminated against the president, whom he perceived to be the Antichrist, made threats against him and prepared to take violent action against him," federal prosecutors said in court papers.

Hernandez faces up to 27 1/2 years in prison for the shooting.