Man charged following White House attack
By William Scally
WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Charges have been filed against a
26-year-old hotel worker alleged to have fired a hail of bullets
at the White House in an unprecedented incident that has once
again raised major concern about the president's safety.
Francisco Martin Duran, from Colorado, was charged with
unlawful possession of a firearm and damaging government
property, a Secret Service spokesman said Sunday.
There is a possibility that Duran could be charged with
attempted assassination, a Secret Service official, Carl Meyer,
said.
President Clinton was not in danger when Duran allegedly
pulled a SKS Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle from under his
raincoat and opened fire through the White House railings on
Saturday afternoon.
The Secret Service, the agency that guards the president,
said Duran would be arraigned on Monday before a U.S.
magistrate.
He has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm as
a convicted felon and with ``willful injury of U.S. Government
property.''
The spokesman said that while in the Army, Duran had pleaded
guilty in 1991 to felony assault and related charges and was
sentenced to five years imprisonment at Fort Levenworth prison
in Kansas. He served four years.
The shooting occurred on busy Pennsylvania Avenue, a main
thoroughfare and a favorite spot for tourists to gaze at the
White House a short distance from the sidewalk.
It was the first incident, at least in modern times, in
which a firearm had been fired at the White House.
Although Clinton was in the presidential mansion, he was
not aware of the attack until told. He made light of it, joking
that he was glad to be back ``in the safety and security of the
White House'' after returning earlier in the day from the
violence-plagued Middle East.
But the incident, coming six weeks after a man crashed a
plane onto the South Lawn of the White House, again showed the
vulnerability of the U.S. president who traditionally seeks to
maintain touch with the people by frequent public appearances.
The Secret Service, the agency that guards the president,
would like to close off Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House
but such a move would conflict with long-standing traditions.
Thousands of tourists troop through the White House daily.
Security has been tightened in recent years at the White
House and other government buildings in Washington, with the
addition of large concrete barriers to prevent suicide bombers
driving a truck from crashing into the buildings. However,
public pedestrian access remains relatively free.
After apparently emptying the magazine of his weapon at the
White House, Duran was wrestled to the ground by passersby and
was taken into custody by security officers.
The president, whose schedule was not interrupted by the
incident, told 3,000 people at an Italian-American dinner on
Saturday night that he was watching college football on
television when the sound of the bullets ``blended in with the
cheers'' of the game.
A Secret Service spokesman, Dave Adams, said Duran spent the
night at the District of Columbia central cellblock and is to be
arraigned before a U.S. magistrate here Monday on charges of
unlawful possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and of
wilful injury to U.S. Government property.
Adams said Duran had been pleaded guilty on March 21, 1991
to felony assault and related charges and had been dishonorably
discharged from the Army and sentenced to five years in the
federal penitentiary in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was
released before serving his full sentence.
Duran, of Colorado Springs, served in the Army from 1987 to
1991. He was described by his neighbors as a quiet man.
The SKS rifle that Duran used Saturday was banned from
import earlier this year when Clinton extended China's Most
Favored Nation trading privileges.
REUTER
Reut10:35 10-30
Reuter N:Copyright 1994, Reuters News Service
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
guess what got banned in 1994?
