White House briefly evacuated after intruder seen on grounds

WASHINGTON - The White House was briefly evacuated on Friday night because an intruder reportedly jumped over the fence and ran on the grounds of the complex shortly after President Barack Obama left the building.

According to US Secret Service officers, White House staff and reporters were ordered to leave the West Wing following reports that someone had jumped over the fence on the north side of the White House, and they were later allowed back into the building, but the area remained closed to pedestrian traffic.

Video footage showed the intruder was running across the White House lawn toward the president's residence before he was apprehended.

The incident came a week after the Secret Service caught a man who jumped over the north fence of the White House on the thirteenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Obama and his daughters had left the White House earlier Friday for Camp David, the presidential retreat in nearby Maryland.