WASHINGTON (JTA) — A man arrested in an alleged shooting near the White House who has "Israel" tattooed on his neck was charged with attempting to assassinate President Obama.
Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, was charged Thursday during a hearing before a federal magistrate in Pittsburgh. He will be taken to Washington for trial.
In a Nov. 12 web posting, the U.S. Park Police said they were seeking Ortega-Hernandez in the Nov. 11 shooting in the 1600 block of Constitution Avenue in Washington, between the White House and the Washington Monument.
Pennsylvania State Police on Wednesday arrested Ortega-Hernandez, whom they said may be mentally ill, according to an ABC news report.
The Park Police, the authority in the area of the National Mall, found evidence, including a gun and spent shells, in a vehicle abandoned several blocks away that led to Ortega’s arrest warrant.
The web posting described Ortega-Hernandez, who is from Idaho, as 5 feet, 11 inches and 160 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair and with the following marks: "His right hand has a tattoo of three dots, he has a tattoo stating ‘Ortega’ on his upper back, a tattoo on his right chest of rosary beads and hands clasped in prayer, a tattoo of folded hands on left chest, and the words ‘Israel’ tattooed on left side of neck."
Photos of a bearded Ortega pictured outdoors and smiling, and showing his "Israel" tattoo in a flowery script, appear on the web posting. It is not clear how the police obtained the photos.
Police reportedly asked demonstrators with the Occupy Wall Street movement encamped nearby if they had seen Ortega among them.
The U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday discovered two bullets that hit the White House. One was lodged in a protected glass window on the residential level.
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