A man was arrested outside the White House gates Monday for reportedly throwing a firecracker onto the lawn just hours after a deadly shooting spree at the Navy Yard a few miles away.
Alexander Sahagian, 52, was taken into custody around 6:30 p.m. outside the North Lawn of the White House after
tossing the explosives onto the grass, according to Politico.
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Sahagian is expected to be charged with throwing a projectile.
The firecrackers alarmed those at the nation's capital as the popping noises were initially reported as gunshots by some news outlets.
On Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier," "GUN INCIDENT AT WHITE HOUSE" appeared on the screen.
"We are just getting a report of some kind of commotion," Baier said live. "We are getting a report from our own Ed Henry who is now running to the camera position that someone pulled a weapon of some type and gunmen have engaged this person."
Fox's Shepard Smith also tweeted "Fox News confirms — shots fired outside the White House," but later deleted it.
Earlier Monday, contract worker Aaron Alexis carried out the deadliest shooting on a military installation in the U.S. since the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009.
Alexis, 34, killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard before he was killed by police. It's not yet clear what his motivation was.
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