Suspected gunman was 'always kind,' longtime friend says

EVANSVILLE, Indiana (CNN) -- A longtime friend of the man suspected of waving a gun outside the White House on Wednesday had had some family problems but had always been kind, a friend of many years said.

"He has had emotional problems with his family, but he has always been very kind, a very good person," said Beverly Buck of Evansville, Indiana, hometown of the suspect, Robert Pickett.

Buck said Pickett, 47, lived alone. After his parents died a few years ago he drifted apart from his two sisters and brother, she said.

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Buck said she last saw Pickett "just last week. He was our accountant and was figuring our taxes for us."

"He was always ... very, very kind to us," she said. "I think he was always trying to find himself."

Pickett worked with another man in an accounting firm that originally was operated by his father, Buck said.

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