Woman With Unregistered Handgun Arrested Near White House

A 23-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly carrying an unregistered 9 mm handgun near the White House late Thursday evening. 

April Debois of Mount Morris, Michigan, is charged with carrying a pistol without a license and will remain in custody until a preliminary hearing Monday morning.

Debois was participating in a demonstration along the north fence line of the White House when a plainclothes Secret Service officer observed the firearm holstered on the front of her hip and informed another Secret Service officer, who was monitoring the demonstration.

A U.S. Park Police officer searched Debois and found several rounds of ammunition in her jacket, according to charging documents.

Debois was charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, possession of unregistered ammunition and carrying a pistol without a license.

Debois was in the company of another person who was not arrested, according to a Secret Service official.

Debois has not been cooperative in interviews, that official said.

Her arrest came less than two days after an Iowa man was arrested. R.J. Kapheim, 43, had weapons in his car and claimed that President Obama called him directly and asked him to go to the White House, authorities said. Kapheim has pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of a rifle.

The Secret Service has been under scrutiny since a Texas Army veteran, Omar Gonzalez, leapt over a White House fence on Sept. 19 and charged into the White House. Gonzalez made it all the way into the East Room before he was tackled, thanks to a string of Secret Service failures detailed in an internal review released last week.

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