White House Gunman Charged with Assaulting Police Officer

A man shot in the knee after he was caught brandishing a gun near the White House this week was formally charged Friday with assaulting a police officer while armed, a US attorney's spokesman said.

Robert Pickett, 47, who is in hospital, faces a maximum 10-year jail term on federal charges, but is not expected to be in court before Monday at the earliest, a spokesman for the US attorney for the District of Colombia, Channing Phillips said.

"He was formally charged with one count of assaulting a federal officer while armed," Phillips told AFP. "It carries a penalty of up to 10 years in jail and/or a fine of up to 250,000 dollars."

The case will go to a grand jury which will at a later date return an indictment to include the assault charge and any other charges, the official said.

A psychiatric evaluation may be ordered by the court when he makes his first appearance, he said.

Pickett was shot once in the knee by a Secret Service agent, after a 10-minute standoff around 11:30 am (1630 GMT) Wednesday on the opposite side of the White House from a block of Pennsylvania Avenue that authorities closed to traffic after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

He was arrested then taken by ambulance to George Washington University Hospital where he underwent surgery to his damaged right knee.

Authorities said the incident might have been a suicide attempt. However people familiar with Pickett suggested it was more likely to be an attempt to draw attention to his running battle with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

A native of Evansville, Indiana, the man has no criminal record, according to Evansville police, although he was once reported missing from his home, and found the next month in West Point, New York.

Wednesday's incident came about 90 minutes after President George W. Bush held a public event on the South Lawn. Officials said the US leader and Vice President Dick Cheney, who also attended the event, were never in any danger.






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