Suspect in White House shooting in court Thursday

WASHINGTON -- Police in Pennsylvania arrested a man Wednesday on suspicion of firing a semiautomatic rifle at the White House last week, with one bullet striking a bulletproof window in the residential part of the building.

President Obama, currently on a trip to Australia and Indonesia, was not home during the incident.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said Pennsylvania police, acting on information provided by the service, arrested Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez at a hotel near Indiana, Pa.

"Ortega-Hernandez is currently in the custody of the Pennsylvania State Police," Donovan said.

The arrest took place shortly after the Secret Service reported that a bullet had hit a White House window.

"A round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass," the agency said in a statement.

The Secret Service also said it had found "one additional round" on the "exterior of the White House," but did not specify where.

Gunfire was reported at around 9 p.m. Friday near the White House, the Secret Service said. The sound of the shots came from south of the White House, around the intersection of 16th Street and Constitution Avenue, about 700 to 800 yards from the White House.

"This damage has not been conclusively connected to Friday's incident, and an assessment of the exterior of the White House is ongoing," the Secret Service said in a statement.

Later that night, authorities reported a nearby abandoned car and an AK-47 rifle.

Obama was in California at the time of the shooting before he traveled to Hawaii and Australia.

On Wednesday, law enforcement officials could be seen taking a photo of a window on the upper floor on the south side of the White House.

Ortega did not resist arrest, said Pennsylvania State Trooper Lt. Brad Shields.

Ortega will make his first court appearance today in Pittsburgh, according to the staff of U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Reed Eddy.

Ortega is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and was reported missing Oct. 31 by his family.

On Friday morning, he was stopped by police in a Washington suburb after officers were called for a report of a suspicious person.

Police took photos of him but had no reason to arrest him, police Lt. Joe Kantor said.

Ortega has an arrest record in three states but has not been linked to any radical organizations, U.S. Park Police have said.

The last White House shooting occurred in 1994, when Francisco Martin Duran began firing a semiautomatic rifle from Pennsylvania Avenue.

Bystanders subdued Duran after he fired at least two dozen rounds. Duran is now serving a 40-year prison sentence for that incident.