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Armed man shot at near White House

A 47-year-old man was shot Wednesday morning by Secret Service after he waved a gun and refused to surrender it, near the White House.

President George Bush and his family, and Vice President Dick Cheney, who were in the White House at the time, were safe.

Robert Pickett of Evansville, Indiana, reportedly fired two to three shots and then jumped into nearby bushes, where he hid for about 15 minutes, as agents tried to persuade him to surrender. He was shot in the leg when he refused.

When told to surrender his gun, the man spoke of a desire to commit suicide, according to the Secret Service. A former neighbour of Pickett called him "very kind and a very good person". She said Pickett, who lived alone, was an accountant.

In May 1995, the Secret Service had shot a man who scaled a White House fence with an unloaded gun. The man wanted to see then President Bill Clinton.

A pilot died when he crashed a small plane on the south lawn of the White House nine months earlier. A man pulled a rifle from under his coat and sprayed the front of the White House with bullets about a month later.

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