A Driver Was Arrested for Crashing Into a White House Gate — Here's What We Know
A bomb squad was sent to the scene to check for other threats.
Published March 11 2026, 2:17 p.m. ET
At 6:30 a.m. local time on May 11, 2026, a driver crashed into the White House gate in Washington, D.C., near Madison and H Streets, according to WTOP News. Police and members of the U.S. Secret Service arrived on the scene and took the suspect into custody, where he is being questioned.
Streets near the White House were blocked off with police tape after the event, and streets and some White House entrances were closed temporarily as officials looked into the incident, per The Independent. Here's what we know about the event.
Who crashed into the White House?
The driver who crashed their car into the White House gate has not been publicly identified, according to The Independent. Various news sources did say that the suspect was male.
After the driver crashed into the gate, they were immediately taken into custody. Criminal charges against the suspect are being filed, but they are currently pending, according to ABC 7. There were no reported injuries, and authorities have not revealed details of a motive or a timeline of events leading up to the crash.
A police bomb squad was called to the scene to check the vehicle that crashed into the gate, and the team found the vehicle to be safe. Streets near the White House reopened after officials deemed the area safe.
This is not the first time someone has crashed a vehicle into a White House gate.
In October of 2025, a driver was arrested for "ramming" their car into the security gate at the White House, according to The Independent. While reporting on the crash at the time, a Fox News reporter pointed out that there was a second gate beyond the one that the suspect crashed into, so it would have been very difficult for him to breach the barrier and enter the White House grounds.
In May of 2024, a driver died after crashing a vehicle into a White House gate, per NPR. The event was investigated as a "traffic crash" rather than a threat to the President, according to law enforcement authorities.
In January 2024, a vehicle crashed into an exterior White House gate, but it wasn't clear whether the crash was intentional or accidental, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said, according to the BBC.
Another driver crashed a rented U-Haul vehicle into the White House gate in May of 2023 and said that he planned to kill then-President Joe Biden, per People.
A fatal shooting occurred near the White House in November 2025.
In November of 2025, two National Guard members (Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe) were shot while working near the White House. Beckstrom unfortunately died after the incident. The suspect in the shooting was Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national from Washington State. He was indicted, as revealed by the U.S. District Court, per the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The Indictment adds two new counts of assault with intent to kill for the two other National Guard members who were involved in the incident. Lakanwal was also charged with first-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed, and other charges related to carrying firearms and ammunition.