The 19-year-old Missouri man accused of deliberately driving a rented truck into a White House barrier allegedly told authorities he admired Nazis and wanted to «seize power» and «kill the president,» according to released court documents. on Tuesday.
Sai Varshith Kandula, of Chesterfield, Missouri, rented the U-Haul truck Monday night immediately after flying from St. Louis to Dulles International Airport on a one-way ticket, a Secret Service agent said in a statement of facts. filed in federal district court. in Washington D.C.
The statement was included with a criminal complaint charging Kandula with depredation of United States property of more than $1,000.
At around 9:35 p.m., he drove the vehicle onto a sidewalk outside the White House and into a metal barrier just north of the White House, according to the document.
Kandula put the truck in reverse and crashed into the barrier a second time before he was pulled over by United States Park Police officers, according to the documents.
When Secret Service agents asked Kandula about a swastika flag he took from a backpack, he allegedly said he bought it online because the Nazis «have a great history,» according to the court document.
He allegedly said that he «admires his ‘authoritarian nature, eugenics and his unique world order,'» the document states, adding that Kandula identified Hitler as a «strong leader» whom he admires.
Kandula allegedly told authorities that he had been planning the attack for six months and detailed the plans in a «green paper,» the document says.
He «stated that his goal was ‘to enter the White House, seize power, and be put in charge of the nation,'» the document says. «When the agents asked him how KANDULA would take power, he said that ‘I would kill the president if that’s what I have to do and hurt anyone who gets in my way.'»
In Chesterfield, a St. Louis suburb, where Kandula lives, FBI agents were seen going in and out of her home Tuesday and acquaintances struggled to link the alleged attack to the «cold» teenager they know.
Chesterfield police have no records of any interactions with Kandula or calls for service to the family’s home, Capt. Daniel Dunn said.
Dunn said federal agents are leading the investigation.
Errion Barfield, who was on the Marquette High School track team with Kandula, remembered him as quiet and unassuming.
“He was nice and relaxed,” Barfield said in a Facebook message to NBC News. «I never expected him to do something like this.»
Kandula was a member of Chesterfield’s sizable South Asian population, a middle class suburb about 20 miles west of St. Louis.
Pranav Nagila, who was a year ahead of Kandula, said he could not understand that his former schoolmate possibly had a Nazi flag in his possession.
“I didn’t see it as unpleasant or anything like that,” said Nagila, who just finished her sophomore year at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. «He seemed like a relaxed person.»
Kandula appeared in Washington DC Superior Court on Tuesday and is expected to make an initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday afternoon.
It was not immediately clear if Kandula has an attorney speaking on her behalf.