Lockdown over at White House after man throws items over fence

WASHINGTON — The White House was put on lockdown for nearly two hours Wednesday after a man threw “personal belongings” over the north fence line of the White House complex.

The Secret Service made what it describes as protective sweeps of the grounds to ensure nothing dangerous made it inside the fence line.

Once the sweeps were complete, the White House complex returned to normal operations.

The Secret Service did not identify the person taken into custody at about 10:30 a.m.

This is the second consecutive day in which the White House was put on lockdown. On Tuesday, a man jumped the fence along the office facility where presidential staffers work.

The incident prompted a 20-minute lockdown of the White House, a Secret Service official said.

The unidentified man jumped the west fence of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is on the White House campus and sits just west of the executive mansion, the agency’s statement said.

The robbery occurred less than a block away from the White House, it said.

The last time a person jumped the White House fence was on April 2. That individual was detained immediately and charged with unlawful entry.

Before that, a Connecticut man wearing an American flag scaled the north fence on Thanksgiving Day in November and was quickly caught.

In 2014, an Army veteran carrying a knife pushed his way into the White House after climbing the fence. That marked one of the most significant breaches of security at the executive mansion during the Obama administration and led lawmakers to criticize the Secret Service.