Man who jumped White House fence killed in Pennsylvania courthouse

(Image credit: Twitter.com/DoyleGlobal)

last updated 26 August 2015

A 34-year-old man who jumped a fence at the White House in March was shot and killed Tuesday at a Pennsylvania courthouse after he attacked a sheriff's deputy with a knife, officials said.

Authorities have not disclosed why Curtis Smith was at the Chester County Justice Center, CNN reports. Officials say he was at the building's entrance when he pulled out the knife and slashed the deputy, and was shot by a second officer. "In Chester County, we have trained intensively to deal with the threat of an attacker in the Justice Center or any other public building," District Attorney Thomas Hogan said in a statement. "Today, that training paid off."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.