A possibly suicidal middle-aged man branished a handgun outside the White House grounds early today. A uniformed member of the Secret Service's QRT fired a shot into his knee, at which point he was taken into custody and taken to GWU Hospital.
The gunman was Robert Pickett of Evansville, Indiana, who has been described as a "loner", and by reports on CNN, lives in the home he grew up in (his parents are dead).
USSS and Park Police tried to talk Pickett down for 15 minutes before the shot was fired injuring Pickett. The incident apparently began at 11:22 am.
City police were the first on the scene, near the South Grounds (where Bush had been exercising an hour earlier).
During Clinton's term, one suspect jumped the fence with an unloaded rifle, another fired at the White House, and a pilot apparently lost control of his plane and crashed into the White House.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
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My new year's resolution is the same as last year's: 1024x768.
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"...screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" - Omega.
Irony ensues.
Free Jeff K
The plane may have hit the land intitially, but I'm pretty sure it hit the building itself at some point. I might be wrong.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
I was about to comment, I never heard of a plane crashing into the White House either. The lawn maybe, but even that I don't remember.
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"You win again gravity" - Capt Zap Brannigan.
Federation Starship Datalink: Brand new look, fresh minty scent, same great taste!
$$$
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Yeah, at the end of Debt of Honor, some Japanese pilot crashes a 747 into the Capital building where Ryan has just been sworn in as VP. Needless to say, Ryan becomes President.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
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I will shout until they know what I mean.
--
Neutral Milk Hotel
****
Read three (three!) chapters of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Then, go insane!
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"There's no such thing as legacies. At least, there is a legacy, but I'll never see it."
~ George W. Bush, Deer-In-The-Headlights of the United States
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"Okashii na... namida ga nagareteru. Hitotsu mo kanashikunai no ni."
(That's funny... my tears are falling. And I'm not sad at all.) - Quatre Raberba Winner
An accountant? Maybe the new cut tax proposals drove him to it, if they make them retroactive, he might have to redo the books?
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"My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q
As for other White House attacks: October 29, 1994, a Colorado native opened fire on the White House with a semiautomatic weapon. Caught and convicted of attempting to assassinate the President and assaulting four Secret Service agents. Also, on May 23, 1995, a man with an unloaded handgun jumped the White House fence and made a dash for the White House. He was tackled by one Secret Service agent and shot and wounded by another one.
That seems to be it for their history of White House attacks. Their website has a listing for attacks at the capital building as well. That is quite a long list, too.
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Nic: She's not a practicing lesbian. We need PRACTICING lesbians!
Me: I have a camcorder.
Nic: But no lesbians.
Me: Ahhh... no.
Nic: DAMN IT MAN! WE NEED LESBIANS! LOTS AND LOTS OF LESBIANS!
ICQ Conversation From January 23, 2001.
Who knows why people do these things? Again, reports were that he might have been suicidal, so he might just have been going to great lengths to commit "suicide by cop" (I trust everyone knows what that is?)
He had a history of mental problems, too. He apparently was here in Baltimore for a few years at a "home" for the "crazy people!!!!"
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
IRS.
Not IRA.
Big difference.
Okay, not really, both terrorize ...
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
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"One's ethics are determined by what we do when no one is looking" Nugget
Star Trek: Gamma Quadrant
Star Trek: Legacy
Read them, rate them, got money, film them
"...and I remain on the far side of crazy, I remain the mortal enemy of man, no hundred dollar cure will save me..." WoV
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"...screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" - Omega.
Irony ensues.
Free Jeff K
Um, wait, that was supposed to be IRS .. the most effective of the Law Enforcment Agencies! Brought down Capone
But there wasn't this much interest a few years back when they shot a guy to death who only had a knife...
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"My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q
I am susprised that he was shot in the knee, however. So much for saying that you've got to "shoot to kill" because shooting an arm or leg is too hard to hit though, huh?
I think if people are questioning the shooting, it might be in the vein of, "you talked to him for 15 minutes and THEN shot him?" Now, when the USSS completes its investigation and releases more info, (meaning we've got more knowledge of the situation), we might find out the dude was about to try and run onto the White House grounds, in which case the action would be clearly justified. I think some people now just think the USSS agent just decided "fuck it" and shot the dude. Now, I'm certain that's not what happened, but no one on this BBoard (unless they're DC Police, Park Police, or Secret Service), knows exactly what happened, so maybe we should not speculate?
President Bush, as I understand it, was far away from the suspect. Even if the man had fired, the most that would've happened is a touch up on the W.H. There are (as I understand it), conflicted reports as to whether or not the suspect had opened fire or not. Simply pointing a gun at the W.H. doesn't seem reason enough to shoot him, as First suggests.
I don't know what you're talking about, shooting the guy with the knife. If you're referring to the incident at the Lexington Market in Baltimore a few years back, where a police officer shot and killed a suspect waving a knife around, the media did make a very big deal of it. The police were sued by the suspect's family, IIRC.
On the other hand, in Howard County, the same thing happened and nothing came of it. Drunk came at cop with knife, cop fired one round into chest, drunk died. Cop was cleared, and is back on duty. Except for a blurb in the Columbia Flier and a quick mention on the news, there was no mention of it.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
[This message has been edited by JeffKardde (edited February 08, 2001).]
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"My knowledge and experience far exceeds your own, by, oh, about a BILLION times!" -- Q
I just wanted to point out that I know of two such knife-wielding incidents both with the same result, one of which resulted in massive (albeit local) coverage, the other in no (again, local) coverage.
I wonder how many times stuff like this happens and word just doesn't get out? I don't think the Secret Service would like to advertise just how many times a week they get somebody in the act of doing stuff.
Really, the only four occasions I remember recently are rather major.
a) Pilot crashes onto White House Lawn. Not an assassination attempt, but it still makes papers.
b) Gunman gets onto White House Grounds before being killed/subdued by Secret Service.
c) Gunman fires on White House before being killed/subdued
d) Gunman subdued outside White House after being shot in the knee.
I mean, of these, all three of the actual assassination attempts have had guns, which is a greater threat than a knife.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
Oh dear God. Ritten, please say that you're joking, because othewise you've just said one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard.
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"And Mojo was hurt and I would have kissed his little boo boo but then I realized he was a BAD monkey so I KICKED HIM IN HIS FACE!"
-Bubbles
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
Of course, that "supporting the IRA" comment was pretty far out.
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"...screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!" - Omega.
Irony ensues.
Free Jeff K
"...and I remain on the far side of crazy, I remain the mortal enemy of man, no hundred dollar cure will save me..." WoV
[This message has been edited by Ritten (edited February 08, 2001).]
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"And Mojo was hurt and I would have kissed his little boo boo but then I realized he was a BAD monkey so I KICKED HIM IN HIS FACE!"
-Bubbles
Actually, it's funny ... a storeowner in Mt. Vernon, Balt. was robbed and killed by one of his employees, and that's gotten a lot more press than the Bush gunman.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.83 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
Or else we'll drill through the backs of your kneecaps. I meant "they'll". Yes.
*BRRBRBRBRBRBRBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*
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"Sack me!? I MADE the BBC!!"
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All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
Bob Dylan