Man with bullets in pocket detained near White House

By Kelly Wallace
CNN White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Secret Service detained a man displaying "unusual" behavior and carrying bullets in his pocket near the White House after the man told authorities Thursday that he had two guns in another part of the city.

"He made no threat" to President Bush or the White House, an agency spokesman told CNN.

Uniformed Secret Service officers then accompanied the man to an area near 17th Street and Constitution Avenue, a few blocks from the White House, where officers found a bag, containing two small-caliber handguns and more ammunition.

The unidentified man is in the custody of the District of Columbia police force and is expected to be charged with having weapons in the district.

The incident began about 7 a.m. (ET), near where tourists visiting the White House exit.

"There was a subject who approached one of our officers," said a Secret Service spokesman. "He displayed some unusual behavior" and asked "questions that are inappropriate," he added.

The man then told a uniformed Secret Service officer he had a "couple of weapons" with him in a bag in another part of the city, according to the spokesman. "He was completely cooperative," he added.

The Secret Service informed the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and D.C. police officers headed to the site where the bag was found.

The Secret Service did not have details about the man's age, ethnicity or his place of residence.

The spokesman indicated that cases of people displaying unusual behavior near the White House grounds happen all the time.