For much of 1950 President Truman stayed in the Blair House while the White House was being remodeled. With no notice, two Puerto Ricans began shooting the guards in front of the residence. One guard was killed and three were wounded. One of the gunman was killed in a remarkable fashion by Secret Serviceman Leslie Coffelt after officer Coffelt had been mortally wounded.
Prior to this incident, the secret service has only 15 agents but was quickly increased to 35. Today more than 3000 agents are serving.
Agent Coffelt's widow later travelled to Puerto Rico to meet the people in the island to express that she did not hold them responsible for the death of her husband.
The second gunman was sentence to death for his role in the incident but had his sentence commuted in 1979 by President Carter after spending 29 years in jail.
Wikipedia Link
1 comment:
Leslie Coffelt was a Officer of the White House Police not a Secret Service agent. The White House Police is now called US Secret Service Uniformed Division.
Post a Comment