A man from Missouri flew to

the nation’s capital, Washington

rented a U-Haul truck and drove straight to the White House, where he turned the truck into a

close to

security barrier and started swinging

all around

a Nazi flag

in

the culmination of a six-month plan to seize power from the government, authorities said on Tuesday.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, removed the flag from a backpack shortly after driving the box truck into the barrier on the north side of Lafayette Square around 10 p.m. Monday, according to indictment documents. He was quickly arrested by a U.S. Park Police officer who rushed to the scene of the crash and reported seeing him remove the flag.

Kandula later told U.S. Secret Service agents that he flew out of St. Louis on a one-way ticket that night after months of planning. He wanted to go to the White House, take power and take charge of the nation,” and he said he would kill the president if that’s what I have to do,” the indictment said.

Kandula, who is from Chesterfield, a suburb of St. Louis, Mo., said he bought the flag online because he admires the great history of the Nazis, their authoritarian nature, eugenics and their one world order.

No one was injured in the crash. No explosives or weapons were found in the truck or on Kandula.

Kandula leased the U-Haul in Herndon, Virginia, and had a valid contract in his own name, the company said. People can rent a truck from U-Haul at the age of 18, and according to U-Haul, he had no red flags.

A witness, Chris Zaboji, said the driver crashed into the barrier at least twice. Zaboji, a 25-year-old pilot who lives in Washington, was on a run near Lafayette Square when he heard the loud crash of the U-Haul truck hitting the barrier. He said he took out his phone and captured the moment the truck hit the barrier again before hearing sirens approaching.

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When the van backed up and rammed it again, I decided I wanted to get out of there, he said.

Secret Service and Metropolitan Police Department agents searched the truck after the crash. Video posted by WUSA-TV shows a police officer at the scene picking up and inventorying several pieces of evidence from the truck, including a Nazi flag.

Kandula was arrested on multiple counts and prosecutors charged him with damaging US property.

President Biden was briefed Tuesday morning on the crash by Secret Service and Park Police, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, adding he is relieved no one was injured last night.

The Secret Service is monitoring hundreds of people who have threatened the president, but it’s not clear if Kandula was on their radar or if he had previously threatened the president, which would have triggered the Secret Service’s involvement.

No attorney for Kandula was listed in court records, multiple phone numbers listed under his last name in public records were out of order, and the Associated Press’s efforts Tuesday to reach family members who might speak on his behalf were not immediately successful. People in a Missouri home listed as associated with Kandula declined to speak to an AP reporter.

Lafayette Square offers arguably the best view of the White House available to the public, and Kandula sent several people running as he pulled onto the sidewalk to reach the barrier.

The square has also long been one of the country’s most prominent demonstration sites. The park was closed for nearly a year after federal authorities cordoned off the area at the height of nationwide protests over police brutality following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It reopened in May 2021.

U-Haul is a moving truck, trailer and self-storage rental company based in Phoenix.

Associated Press writers Jim Salter in Chesterfield, Mo., Colleen Long and Michael Balsamo in Washington, and newsgathering producer Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report.