Man Who Jumped White House Fence Left Suicide Notes: Court Documents

By FEROZE DHANOA (Patch National Staff)

A Stamford, Conn., man was taken into custody for reportedly jumping the White House fence on Thanksgiving Day prompting a lockdown while the first family dined inside.

22-year-old Joseph Caputo was immediately apprehended after he scaled the north fence around 2:45 p.m. Nearby streets were closed off while the Secret Service conducted a security sweep of the area. A Secret Service spokesman told Fox CT, Caputo has an address listed on Morgan Street in Stamford.

Caputo made a court appearance on Friday where he was released to the custody of the Secret Service and ordered to go through a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation.Charging documents for Caputo show that while in custody, he told agents he loved his country and knew he would be locked up, W-USA9 reports.

He reportedly left a suicide home at a Virginia home where he had been staying since Monday. Officers interviewed Caputo’s mother at her residence where she gave them a will prepared by Caputo and an audio recording where he tells his mother something will happen to him and he may not see her again.

“Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around us who transform into the Force,” the note read.

According to documents, Caputo left a second note at the house intending to exonerate the people he had been staying with for any of his actions.

He was ordered to appear before a judge Nov. 30.

Caputo was reportedly draped in an American flag. One photographer apparently captured him on camera just after his jump:

The photographer Vanessa Pena told CNN, the man reportedly took a deep breath before jumping over a barricade and then the fence.

Patch profiled Joseph Caputo in 2011, who was then a senior at Naugatuck High School. Caputo told Patch he didn’t like people to know he was diagnosed with Asperger’s as he thought it would hold him back. While he was told he couldn’t do things normal kids could do, he always met up to the challenges.

“I don’t feel Aspergers should be an excuse. I feel I should work hard to equate with other kids, and then rise above,” he told Patch in 2011.

Read Patch’s profile of Joseph Caputo here.