A Venezuelan man was arrested near the White House on Thursday after telling Secret Service officers that voices in his head had directed him to Washington to kill President Donald Trump, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Authorities said officers recovered three firearms and ammunition from the vehicle where he was found.
DHS identified the man as Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos and said officers approached him while he was parked on Constitution Avenue because they believed he was behaving suspiciously. A court affidavit from a Secret Service police officer describes Chrinos, 26, as asleep inside a blue Ford F-150 when officers woke him at 11:42 p.m.
The encounter began as a welfare check, according to the affidavit. Chrinos communicated with an officer using Google Translate, saying he had weapons that he wanted to surrender to the government. The document says he also offered to hand over an item and an accompanying outfit without resisting, describing the item as something others had wanted to kill him over.
In another statement conveyed through the translation app, Chrinos allegedly said he had taken a gun from people who tried to kill him with it and that it was inside a brown bag. DHS said officers found an AR-15 style rifle, a MAC-10 handgun, a Glock 43X pistol and ammunition.
Officials said the truck had been reported stolen. According to the affidavit, Chrinos told investigators that his boss owned the vehicle and had lent it to him. He also told them he had been living in the truck and had purchased the weapons a month earlier.
DHS said Chrinos was charged with carrying a rifle outside a home or business, along with three counts each of unlawful transportation of a firearm, unregistered firearms and unregistered ammunition. The department also listed one count each of possession of certain dangerous weapons, carrying a pistol without a license, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, theft and receiving stolen property.
A federal law enforcement source said prosecutors were examining the evidence and that Chrinos would appear in federal court on Monday. DHS said he remained in custody Friday. Whether he had a lawyer available to comment on his behalf was unclear.
Federal officials said Chrinos was in the United States illegally. DHS said he entered the country illegally in 2024, was arrested by Border Patrol and was subsequently released. The department offered no additional information about his immigration case.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran said the arrest demonstrated the training of the agency’s personnel and their efforts to de-escalate volatile encounters. He expressed confidence in their tactics while also voicing concern about the rising number of threat cases.
