DHS police thwart intruder at lawmaker’s district office

Officers with the Homeland Security Department's Federal Protective Service moved quickly last week to apprehend a man who had burst into the Portland office of Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., with a knife and threatened employees.

Jillian Schoene was in the office when 44-year-old Robert Anderson allegedly entered the office with a knife, sending workers running. She said that as Anderson approached her, she dialed FPS. But as he came closer, she "threw the [phone] onto the floor and ran out the back door," while a co-worker locked herself in an adjacent office.

Schoene said that in the chaotic scene that ensued, she scrambled to another phone to call police again to confirm they were on their way. She was told that FPS was already en route. Her co-worker remained safely locked out of Anderson's reach until inspectors arrived, and the veteran soon surrendered. "They responded within minutes of getting the call," Schoene said.

"He was very calm," Schoene said of Anderson, describing him as "just a gentleman with some mental health problems."

After his arrest, Anderson told FPS officials that he was distraught. Sources familiar with Anderson's arrest and confession said he offered no reason for why he selected Wu's office -- other, of course, than being a constituent.

Anderson later identified himself as a military veteran and claimed the Veterans Affairs Department "was not responding to his needs," said Lorie Dankers, an Oregon spokeswoman for DHS' Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, of which FPS is a part. Dankers and others familiar with the incident did not identify the branch of the military in which Anderson had served.

David Wright, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 981, which represents hundreds of FPS workers, said the timely responses are being threatened by a plan for across-the-country staffing cuts.

"Under the proposed plan, that kind of a response would not happen at a congressional office" away from Capitol Hill, Wright said. "We would have to rely on local police."

ICE spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback said FPS is not planning firings, but instead is looking to offer voluntary retirement packages as well as transfers to other details.