The arrest of Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez, a 21-year-old from Idaho, gave the Secret Service and other federal agencies charged with protecting President Barack Obama and his family a first break in an otherwise awkward case that risked making them look slightly less than competent.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Secret Service, which likes to project an image of deadly efficiency, with its dark-suited men sporting shades and wiggly earpieces, admitted that one of the two bullets found on Tuesday had penetrated the outer pane of one of the windows on the south side of the iconic residence. A second layer of ballistic glass had stopped it travelling further. The second bullet was found in the grounds. In a statement, the Secret Service said it still could not say for certain that the bullets had been there since the incident of Friday evening, although it seemed likely.

“The damage has not been conclusively connected to Friday’s incident and an assessment of the exterior of the White House is ongoing,” it said. The Friday mêlée which shut down streets all around the presidential home was embarrassing enough before the bullets showed up. Witnesses heard shots close by as well the squealing of tyres of perhaps two vehicles. Soon after, officers discovered a crashed car on nearby Constitution Avenue. It was registered to Mr Ortega. He was not inside, but what they did find was an automatic rifle and shell casings.

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