--- title: Secret Service Fumbled Response to 2011 White House Shooting description: When a heavily armed man fired shots at the White House in 2011, the Secret Service was alarmingly slow to put the pieces together canonical: https://time.com/3441753/white-house-shooting-secret-service/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-28T15:09:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:39.278Z article:section: Politics og:title: Secret Service Fumbled Response to 2011 White House Shooting og:description: When a heavily armed man fired shots at the White House in 2011, the Secret Service was alarmingly slow to put the pieces together og:url: https://time.com/3441753/white-house-shooting-secret-service/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta61889bc2e67d7d9/6986a5be06f2c16f93330f87/white-house-secret-service.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The White House Is Reflected On Driveway Puddle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Secret Service Fumbled Response to 2011 White House Shooting twitter:description: When a heavily armed man fired shots at the White House in 2011, the Secret Service was alarmingly slow to put the pieces together twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta61889bc2e67d7d9/6986a5be06f2c16f93330f87/white-house-secret-service.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Report: Secret Service Bungled White House Shooting Response in 2011 by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2014 3:09 PM UTC  A puddle in the driveway reflects the White House and north lawn on Sept. 25, 2014 in Washington, DC. A puddle in the driveway reflects the White House and north lawn on Sept. 25, 2014 in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 28, 2014 3:09 PM UTC The Secret Service badly [bungled its response to a shooting](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-stumbled-after-gunman-hit-white-house-residence-in-2011/2014/09/27/d176b6ac-442a-11e4-b437-1a7368204804%5Fstory.html) outside the White House in 2011, according to a new report, taking four days to realize that shots had actually hit the presidential residence. [A detailed report in the Washington _Post_ ](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-stumbled-after-gunman-hit-white-house-residence-in-2011/2014/09/27/d176b6ac-442a-11e4-b437-1a7368204804%5Fstory.html)chronicles the Secret Service’s slow and inadequate response to a 2011 shooting outside the White House in which an Idaho man, Oscar R. Ortega-Hernandez, fired at least seven bullets into the house’s upstairs residence 700 yards across the South Lawn, and to the attack. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were away during that weekend, but their younger daughter, Sasha, was in the White House, the _Post_ reports, and their older daughter, Malia, was expected home any minute. While Secret Service officers rushed to respond to the shots, a call came from the supervisor on duty: no shots fired, stand down. The officers complied, even as Ortega sped away from the scene at 60 mph. The supervisor apparently believed the noise had been a construction vehicle backfiring. Although it acknowledged later that night that shots had been fired in the vicinity, the agency initially suggested they had come from a gang gunfight near the front lawn of the White House, and not from a deliberate attack. It took more than four days for the Secret Service to piece together that shots had hit the White House, and only then because a housekeeper noticed the damage. The Secret Service did not interview key witnesses until days later, when the bullets were found, and only conducted a superficial inspection of the White House for damage. The Obamas were only made aware of the shooting when an assistant White House usher told the First Lady about the bullet holes another housekeeper had found. The officers who believed shots had hit the White House were either ignored or afraid to contradict their superiors. Ortega was eventually arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison. A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to speak with the _Post_. \[[Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/secret-service-stumbled-after-gunman-hit-white-house-residence-in-2011/2014/09/27/d176b6ac-442a-11e4-b437-1a7368204804%5Fstory.html)\] ### PHOTOS: Go Behind the Scenes with the Secret Service  Secret Service agents stand guard around President Bush's Limousine on the tarmac as he arrives in Kansas City, Mo., Jan. 25, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents surround U.S. President Barack Obama at a campaign event in Las Vegas on Nov. 1, 2012. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Secret Service agent watches the crowd as President Barrack Obama speaks in Holmdel, N.J. on July 16, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  U.S. President George W. Bush attends a campaign rally in the town square of Troy, Ohio, on Aug. 28, 2004. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents watch as President George W. Bush lands in Philadelphia on March 15, 2004. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents watch as U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Nov. 3, 2006. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Presidential limousine is loaded onto a C5 military transport plane bound for eastern Europe, where President Bush is headed next week. A "secure package" of motorcade vehicles, including the limousines and a fleet of Secret Service SUVs is transported to the site of every presidential visit, Maryland, March 28, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Secret Service agent stands guard in front of President George W Bush's vehicle, while he tours rebuilding efforts in a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Katrina, in Long Beach, Miss. on March 1, 2007. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A Secret Service agent with the Counter Assault and Tactical Division holds a loaded weapon in front of the North Portico of the White House in Washington, Oct. 28, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Members of the Counter Asault Division of the US Secret Service keep an eye on the crowd as President Barack Obama departs the Annual Legislative Conference of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington on March 10, 2009. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  A uniformed secret service agent waits for the arrival of President Bush and Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on the North Portico of the White House in Washington on Oct. 13, 2008. Brooks Kraft—Corbis  Secret Service agents stand near the Presidential Limousine at the conclusion of a campaign rally attended by President Bush in an airport hanger in Sugar Land, Texas on Oct. 30, 2006. 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