Armed Man Arrested Near the White House After Allegedly Threatening to Kill Trump

A man was arrested near the White House late on Thursday night after US Secret Service officers found three guns and dozens of rounds of ammunition in a stolen pickup truck, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Friday.

The man, identified as Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos, a Venezuelan national, allegedly told officers that voices in his head had told him to travel to Washington and kill President Donald Trump. He is now in custody and faces a series of firearms and vehicle charges.

No one was hurt in the incident, and officials have not said that the man had a specific plan to attack the president or that he tried to enter the White House grounds.

What happened near the White House?

Secret Service officers were patrolling Constitution Avenue, a road that runs alongside the White House, late on Thursday night when they noticed a man acting suspiciously inside a parked blue Ford F-150 pickup truck.

According to a Secret Service affidavit filed in court, the officers approached the truck at about 11:42 pm local time. The man was asleep inside the vehicle. The officers woke him up to check whether he was safe — a routine step officers call a welfare check — and asked him whether he was carrying any weapons.

The man indicated that he had weapons and made a gesture with his fingers that looked like a handgun. After stepping out of the vehicle, he spoke to investigators using Google Translate. According to the criminal complaint, he said that someone had tried to kill him with a gun and that he had taken the gun away from that person. He then pointed officers towards a brown bag inside the truck.

When officers searched the vehicle, they found three firearms: an AR-15-style rifle, a MAC-10 machine pistol and a Glock 43X handgun, along with dozens of rounds of ammunition. Investigators also found that the pickup truck had been reported stolen.

What did the man allegedly say about Trump?

The Department of Homeland Security said in a public statement on Friday that Guanipa Chrinos told officers that voices in his head had directed him to come to Washington and kill President Trump.

There is one important detail to note here. According to ABC News, that alleged statement appears in the department’s public statement but does not appear in the criminal complaint filed in court, which describes the encounter in different terms. The complaint records what the man said through Google Translate about someone trying to kill him and about the gun he said he had taken.

This difference matters because the court document and the public statement do not tell the story in exactly the same way. What is confirmed by both is that officers found the man in a stolen vehicle near the White House with three loaded weapons, and that he was arrested and charged.

Authorities have not publicly said whether the man had a specific plan to attack the president, and they have not said that he tried to enter the White House complex. No attempted-assassination charge has been announced.

Who is the suspect?

Guanipa Chrinos is 26 years old, according to the court affidavit cited by NBC News. The Department of Homeland Security described him as a Venezuelan national who entered the United States through Texas in March 2024 without legal authorisation.

According to DHS, he was arrested by Border Patrol agents when he entered the country and was later released. He has been living in the United States since then.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has placed an immigration detainer on him. A detainer is a formal request asking the authorities holding a person to keep them in custody so that immigration officials can take over the case.

The White House did not comment on the arrest and referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service.

What charges does he face?

Guanipa Chrinos faces several charges under the laws of Washington, DC, including:

• Carrying a rifle outside a home or business
• Three counts of unlawful transportation of a firearm
• Three counts of possession of unregistered firearms
• Three counts of possession of unregistered ammunition
• Unauthorised use of a motor vehicle
• Receiving stolen property

He appeared before the District of Columbia Superior Court on Friday and was ordered to be held without bond, according to court records cited by US media. That means he will stay in custody while his case moves forward, rather than being released while he waits for trial.

He is currently in the custody of the US Marshals Service, the federal agency that holds people who are facing federal or serious local charges in the capital.

What did officials say?

Secret Service Director Sean Curran praised the officers who made the arrest. He said the incident showed the training of his officers and their ability to calm down a dangerous situation without anyone getting hurt. He also expressed concern about the number of threats made against the president and other senior officials.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in the department’s statement that officers had stopped the man near the White House before he could harm anyone.

The Secret Service is the agency responsible for protecting the president, the vice president, their families and other senior officials, as well as guarding the White House itself. Its officers patrol the streets around the White House around the clock, and they regularly stop and question people who behave unusually in the area.

Why this arrest matters

This is the latest in a series of arrests of people accused of threatening President Trump or members of his family since he returned to office, according to the Associated Press. The Secret Service says the number of threats against protected officials has risen, and the agency has been under pressure to show that its security around the president is working.

The case is also a reminder of how the Secret Service works in practice. The arrest did not begin with a tip about a planned attack. It began with officers noticing a parked vehicle and a man who seemed out of place, and deciding to check on him. That kind of routine patrol work — stopping, asking questions and checking a vehicle — is how many security threats around the White House are found.

At the same time, the case raises questions that are still unanswered. Officials have not explained how the man obtained three firearms, or how long he had been in Washington. According to NBC News, he told investigators that he had bought the weapons about a month earlier and had been living in the vehicle. Investigators have not confirmed that account publicly.

There are also questions about the man’s immigration history. He entered the United States without authorisation in 2024, was arrested by Border Patrol and then released. That sequence — arrest at the border followed by release into the country while an immigration case is pending — is common, but it is also a subject of fierce political debate in the United States. The Trump administration has made stricter immigration enforcement one of its central policies.

A previous security scare at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner

The arrest follows another serious security incident earlier this year. On April 25, 2026, an armed man tried to break through the security perimeter at the Washington Hilton hotel during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Secret Service agents exchanged gunfire with the man, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, before arresting him. A Secret Service officer was struck during the exchange but survived. President Trump and other senior officials were evacuated from the event as a precaution. Federal charges were later brought against Allen.

That incident, and this week’s arrest, show that the area around the White House and major Washington events remains a target for people who want to get close to the president — and that the Secret Service’s job is to spot trouble before it reaches him.

How the White House is protected

The White House is one of the most heavily guarded buildings in the world, but the streets around it are public, and the Secret Service cannot stop everyone who walks or drives past.

The security around the building works in layers. There are fences and barriers, armed officers on foot and in vehicles, cameras, checkpoints and, further out, patrols of the surrounding streets. Officers are trained to look for behaviour that seems wrong — a vehicle parked for too long in one place, someone who appears lost or distressed, or a person carrying something unusual.

In this case, that approach worked as intended. Officers noticed the parked truck, approached the driver and found the weapons before any harm was done.

The incident also shows why the area is so sensitive. Constitution Avenue runs close to the White House, and a person with a rifle in a vehicle there is only a short distance from the president’s home and office.

What happens next?

Guanipa Chrinos remains in custody. His case will now move through the courts in Washington, DC, and immigration officials have asked to be notified before any release, so that they can take him into their custody for immigration proceedings.

Investigators are expected to look into where the weapons came from and whether the man acted alone. So far, officials have not suggested that anyone else was involved, and they have not described the incident as part of an organised plot.

The Secret Service has not announced any changes to security around the White House as a result of the arrest, and the White House has continued its normal schedule.

Frequently asked questions

Who was arrested near the White House?

Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos, a 26-year-old Venezuelan national. He was found asleep in a parked blue Ford F-150 on Constitution Avenue, near the White House, late on Thursday night.

What did officers find in the vehicle?

Three firearms — an AR-15-style rifle, a MAC-10 machine pistol and a Glock 43X handgun — plus dozens of rounds of ammunition. The pickup truck had been reported stolen.

What did he allegedly say?

According to the Department of Homeland Security, he told officers that voices in his head had told him to travel to Washington and kill President Donald Trump. That statement appears in the department’s public statement but not in the criminal complaint filed in court, according to ABC News.

What is he charged with?

Multiple firearms and vehicle offences, including carrying a rifle outside a home or business, unlawful transportation of firearms, possession of unregistered firearms and ammunition, unauthorised use of a vehicle and receiving stolen property.

Is he still in custody?

Yes. He appeared in the DC Superior Court on Friday, was ordered held without bond, and is in the custody of the US Marshals Service. Immigration officials have also placed a detainer on him.

Was anyone hurt?

No. No one was injured during the arrest, and officials have not said the man tried to enter the White House or had a specific attack plan.

Conclusion

The arrest of an armed man near the White House is a reminder of the constant pressure on the people who protect the president. A routine patrol, a parked truck and a few questions were enough to stop a man carrying three guns a short distance from the White House before anyone was hurt.

The case will now work its way through the courts, where the charges against Guanipa Chrinos will be tested. For now, the facts that are confirmed are simple: a man with no legal right to be in the United States was found near the White House in a stolen vehicle with three firearms, and he is in custody.

The unanswered questions — how he got the weapons, what he intended to do and why the public statement and the court document describe his words differently — are the ones investigators and the courts will now have to answer.

Sources

• The Statesman, “Venezuelan man arrested near White House with guns, allegedly threatened Trump”, 7 November 2026: https://www.thestatesman.com/world/venezuelan-man-arrested-near-white-house-with-guns-allegedly-threatened-trump-1503659880.html
• The Washington Sun (Associated Press), “Secret Service Arrests Man Who Said He Heard Voices Telling Him to Kill Trump”, 6 November 2026: https://www.washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/secret-service-arrests-man-near-white-house-voices-telling-him-to-kill-trump
• CNN, “Secret Service arrests armed man near White House”, 6 November 2026: https://www.cnn.com/2026/11/06/politics/secret-service-arrests-armed-man-near-white-house
• The Economic Times, “Donald Trump assassination attempt? Venezuelan man living illegally in US arrested with guns near White House, said voices in his head told him to kill the President”, 7 November 2026: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/world/us/donald-trump-assassination-attempt-venezuelan-man-living-illegally-in-us-arrested-with-guns-near-white-house-said-voices-in-his-head-told-him-to-kill-the-president/articleshow/135626141.cms
• Times Now, “Who is Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos, Venezuelan man arrested with guns near White House, kill Trump”, 7 November 2026: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/who-is-ronny-yordrix-guanipa-chrinos-venezuelan-man-arrested-with-guns-near-white-house-kill-trump-article-156476966
• Khaama Press, “Venezuelan man arrested near White House, Trump threat”, 7 November 2026: https://www.khaama.com/venezuelan-man-arrested-near-white-house-trump-threat/

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.