A Venezuelan man armed with three firearms was arrested near the White House on Thursday evening after allegedly telling Secret Service agents that voices in his head had instructed him to kill President Donald Trump.
The suspect, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos, was discovered in a suspicious vehicle parked on Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. Officers determined the vehicle had been reported stolen, and Chrinos, an undocumented immigrant, subsequently admitted to having weapons inside.
A search of the car uncovered an AR-15 style weapon, a Mac 10, a Glock 43X, and dozens of rounds of ammunition. Chrinos had originally entered the United States through Texas in March 2024, where he was arrested by Border Patrol before being released into the country.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin praised the arresting officers in a statement following the incident. “Thanks to our brave Secret Service officers, this illegal alien with three firearms in his vehicle was arrested near the White House before he could harm anyone,” he said.
“On top of threatening President Trump, he is an illegal alien from Venezuela who had no business being in our country in the first place,” Mullin continued. “This is just an example of the incredible work done by the men and women of the Secret Service every single day as they put their lives on the line to protect our nation’s leaders.”
US Secret Service Director Sean Curran also addressed the arrest, tying it to broader patterns of violence directed at protected officials. “This is the latest example of Secret Service personnel relying on extensive training and experience to deescalate a volatile situation that posed an imminent threat to our protectees and other Americans,” he said.
Curran added that the incident reflects both the heightened threat environment and the persistent attraction of armed individuals to the White House complex. “While our personnel are trained to respond to situations like this and we remain confident in our tactics, we are alarmed by the increase in threat cases that continue to arise,” he shared.
The director emphasized proactive measures going forward. “The Secret Service will continue expanding our focus on proactively investigating and identifying individuals who make threats to our protectees, in order to disrupt threats before they arrive in Washington,” he said.
Chrinos now faces multiple charges including carrying a rifle outside a home or business, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property, three counts of unlawful transportation of a firearm, three counts of unregistered firearms, and three counts of unregistered ammunition.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer for the suspect, who is currently being held in custody by the US Marshals Service.
The arrest marks at least the third serious security incident involving Trump in the past year, following a shooting at a July 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a bullet caught his ear, and the subsequent apprehension of another armed suspect near his Florida golf course two months later.