Indian American Teen Arrested for Crashing Truck Into White House Security Barrier; Plotting to Kill President
- Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri, has also been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and reckless operation of a motor vehicle.
An Indian American teenager was arrested today after he crashed a U-Haul tuck into a security barrier near the White House last night. Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, of Chesterfield, Missouri “faces multiple charges, including attempting to kidnap or kill the president, vice president, or a family member,” Politico reported. He has also been charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and reckless operation of a motor vehicle. Kandula “intentionally crashed into barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square,” according to a statement from U.S. Park Police.
A video posted on Twitter by Nathan Howard, a freelance photojournalist, showed what appeared to be a Nazi flag being pulled from the cab of the truck. Kandula did not have explosives or weapons in the U-Haul when he was arrested, news reports said, citing a statement from the Secret Service.
Kandula, whom the media is describing as a “white supremacist,” told the Secret Service agents that he flew on one-way ticket from St. Louis to D.C. on a one-way plane ticket. Shortly after arriving, he allegedly rented the U-Haul from a location near the airport and drove straight to the White House. He told the agents “he knew his chances of arrest were great, but that he wanted to get attention from agencies like the Secret Service,” news reports said.
He expressed admiration for Nazis and told agents he wanted to “get to the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,” The Daily Beast reported, citing an affidavit from a Secret Service officer. He told agents that he’d planned an attack on the White House for six months, as part of a bid to “seize power,” the statement says. He said his plan involved killing the president “if that’s what I have to do and would hurt anyone that would stand in my way,” the affidavit says. “He also allegedly told Secret Service agents that he hoped to promote his plans for ruling the U.S., which he had written in a notebook.”
Kandula graduated from Marquette High School in Chesterfield, Missouri, in January 2022, David Morrison, a spokesman for the Rockwood School District in Eureka, Missouri told The Kansas City Star. He was pursuing a career in data analytics, according to a LinkedIn profile.