By India Today World Desk: The man, who drove a rented box truck into security barriers near the White House on Monday evening (US time), was identified as 19-year-old Indian-origin Sai Varshith Kandula. The accused, who was detained by the Secret Service, was charged with threatening US President Joe Biden after the ‘deliberate’ crash.
In a statement, the US Park Police said Kandula faces a battery of charges, including threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on the president, vice president, or a family member.
No weapons were found inside the truck, the police said. However, a Reuters witness saw investigators pull a Nazi swastika flag from inside the truck.
Authorities also said the truck crash caused no injuries.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden’s exact location at the time of the crash just before 10 pm (0200 GMT Tuesday) was unclear.
He had met with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, at the White House earlier on Monday evening.
WHAT HAPPENED NEAR WHITE HOUSE
A Missouri man flew to Washington, rented a U-Haul truck and drove straight to the White House, where he crashed the truck into a security barrier and began waving around a Nazi flag in the culmination of a six-month plan to “seize power” from the government.
Sai Varshith Kandula removed the flag from a backpack shortly after smashing the box truck into the barrier near the north side of Lafayette Square, according to charging documents.
He was quickly arrested by an officer who also saw him take out the flag.
KANDULA’s CONFESSION
Kandula later told Secret Service agents that he flew from St. Louis on a one-way ticket that night after months of planning.
He wanted to “get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,” and said he would “kill the President if that’s what I have to do,” charges state.
Kandula, who is from the St Louis suburb of Chesterfield, Missouri, said he bought the flag online because he admires the Nazis’ “great history” as well as their “authoritarian nature, eugenics, and their one world order.”
The accused had rented the U-Haul in Herndon, Virginia, and had a valid contract in his own name, the company said.