Update: DC police on Saturday identified the man shot to death this week by Secret Service agents on the grounds of the Peruvian ambassador's residence. Gordon Casey, of Germantown, Maryland, died outside the residence Wednesday, per ABC News, after an intruder was reported. Police gave no information Saturday on why the 19-year-old might have gone there and begun smashing windows. Our original story from Wednesday follows:
US Secret Service officers shot and killed an intruder who was smashing windows at the residence of the Peruvian ambassador to the United States on Wednesday, authorities say. Officials say the ambassador and his family were inside the residence in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Northwest Washington when they heard several windows being smashed just before 8am and called the Secret Service for a "burglary in progress," the AP reports. The agency is responsible for protecting foreign dignitaries and missions in the US, including embassies and diplomatic residences.
The uniformed Secret Service officers encountered a man, armed with a metal stake, in the rear yard of the residence and deployed a Taser in an effort to detain him, but "those weapons appear to not have any effect on the person," Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said at a news conference. The officers then shot the man, who was pronounced dead at the scene, Contee said. His identity has not been released. In a tweet, the Peruvian Embassy said the ambassador, his family, and the staff at the residence are safe and the matter is "being investigated by the competent authorities."
story continues below
The sprawling residence is one of the largest homes in Washington and is surrounded by trees. Investigators are still trying to discern why the man was at the ambassador's home and why he was smashing the windows, Contee said. Several windows and doors around the large property had been shattered, he said. "We're still in the very early stages of the investigation," Contee said. "We don’t know who this individual is, we don't know why this person was on the ambassador’s residential property." Contee said the man appeared to be in his late 20s or 30s. Investigators have not yet identified a motive, but Contee said it "appears to be isolated to this particular embassy residence." (More Secret Service stories.)