The United States Secret Service arrested a Venezuelan citizen in irregular immigration status on Thursday night while parked on Constitution Avenue, just a few meters from the White House complex, with three firearms and dozens of rounds of ammunition in a stolen vehicle, after he claimed that he heard voices commanding him to kill President Donald Trump.
According to the official statement from the Department of Homeland Security, the agents approached the suspect after noticing his unusual behavior inside the vehicle. When confronted, the man admitted that voices in his head had commanded him to travel to Washington and take the life of the president.
The detainee was identified as Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos.
After registering the vehicle —which had been reported stolen— the agents found an AR-15 style rifle, a Mac 10 pistol, and a Glock 43X, in addition to dozens of ammunition cartridges.
Guanipa Chrinos faces a long list of charges: carrying a rifle outside a home or business, three counts of illegal transportation of weapons, three counts of unregistered firearms, three counts of unregistered ammunition, possession of dangerous weapons, carrying a pistol without a license, unauthorized use of a vehicle, robbery, and possession of stolen property.
After his arrest, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a immigration detainer, and the suspect was placed in the custody of the United States Marshals Service.
The Department of Homeland Security specified that Guanipa Chrinos illegally entered the country through Texas in March 2024, was detained by the Border Patrol, and subsequently released during the Biden administration.
"Thanks to our brave Secret Service agents, this foreign national in an irregular immigration status, who had three firearms in his vehicle, was arrested near the White House before he could harm anyone," stated Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin.
"In addition to threatening President Trump, this is a foreigner in an irregular immigration status, coming from Venezuela, who should not have even been in our country. This is just one example of the extraordinary work that the men and women of the Secret Service do every day, risking their lives to protect the leaders of our nation. It is an honor to work alongside Director Sean Curran and all the patriots of the United States Secret Service," Mullin added.
"This is the most recent example of how the personnel of the Secret Service, utilizing their extensive training and experience, manage to defuse a volatile situation that posed an imminent threat to the people under our protection and to other American citizens," stated the director of the United States Secret Service, Sean Curran.
"This incident reflects the heightened risk environment in which we operate, as well as the persistence of armed individuals drawn to the White House complex. While our personnel are trained to respond to situations like this and we have full confidence in our tactics, we are concerned about the increase in the number of threats that continue to emerge. The Secret Service will continue to reinforce its focus on the proactive investigation and identification of individuals who make threats against those we protect, in order to neutralize such threats before they reach Washington," Curran warned.
This arrest adds to a series of serious incidents recorded in 2026. In February, an armed man broke into Mar-a-Lago and was shot dead in a gunfire exchange with the Secret Service. In April, Cole Tomas Allen armed himself and stormed the Correspondents' Dinner in Washington and was charged with attempted murder of the president; an agent survived thanks to his bulletproof vest. In May, another individual opened fire on agents near the White House and later died.
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