President Barack Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, were in California at the time. Suspect nabbed in W.H. shooting

A suspect wanted in connection with a shooting episode near the White House last week was arrested Wednesday in Pennsylvania, law-enforcement officials said.

Pennsylvania state police arrested Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, 21, just after noon at a hotel near Indiana, Pa., the officials said.


Secret Service agents visited the Hampton Inn there recently and gave employees photos of the suspect, State Police spokesman Lt. Brad Shields told reporters Wednesday at the Indiana barracks where Ortega-Hernandez is being held and questioned by federal officials. Shields said a hotel employee recognized Ortega-Hernandez and notified authorities.

“If you’ve seen the pictures that have been on various media outlets, he looked exactly like that,” Shields told reporters. “My recollection is he had the same clothes on. … He was patiently waiting in the lobby when we arrived.”

Shields said the Secret Service believed that Ortega-Hernandez stayed at the hotel recently, along with at least one associate. “My understanding is everyone checked out — that was associated with this guy — several days ago,” the police spokesman said.

Ortega-Hernandez is charged with carrying a dangerous weapon in connection with a shooting incident that occurred near the White House on Friday — when a Secret Service post on Constitution Avenue about five blocks south of the executive mansion reported hearing gunshots and seeing two cars speeding away. Police didn’t immediately locate any suspects, but they reported coming across an AK-47 in an abandoned car.

Police initially said they saw no evidence of a connection between the incident and the White House or President Barack Obama. However, on Tuesday two bullets that struck the White House were discovered.

One of them pierced a window there before being stopped by “ballistic glass,” Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said in a statement. The other bullet was found later “on the exterior of the White House,” he said.

Officials said they’re investigating whether the rounds came from the shots fired Friday near 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,” Donovan said.

The Associated Press reported that the damaged window was in the south portico of a level of the White House that includes residential quarters for Obama and his family. Officials were seen taking photographs of the area on Wednesday morning.

Obama and first lady Michelle Obama were in California on Friday when the shots were fired around 9 p. m.

Shields said Ortega-Hernandez was unarmed when he was arrested. “It’s my understanding he did not make any comment other than he wanted to know why he was being taken into custody,” the spokesman said.

Local officials said Ortega-Hernandez is not facing any charges in Pennsylvania. He is expected to make an appearance in federal court in Pittsburgh on Thursday. It’s unclear whether he will face additional federal charges besides the dangerous weapon charge filed Sunday in District of Columbia Superior Court.

On Tuesday, U.S. Park Police visited the Occupy D.C. protest a couple blocks from the White House in search of Ortega-Hernandez, the Washington Examiner reported. In addition, ABC reported that police had indications that Ortega-Hernandez might be obsessed with the White House.

Ortega-Hernandez is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, but he has reportedly been living in Arlington, Va., where police stopped him briefly on Friday, a police spokesman told WTOP-FM. After receiving a call about a man “circling the area,” police stopped, questioned and photographed the suspect but had no basis to arrest him, Arlington Police Lt. Joe Kantor told the station.