Let’s hope they find him — and soon:

ABC News has learned authorities are increasingly concerned that a man sought in connection with a bizarre shooting incident on the Washington Mall last week may pose a threat to President Obama.

The Secret Service now suspects that a bullet fired in this incident may have hit the White House after a bullet round was found in a White House window, though the round had not yet been conclusively linked to the incident. The round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass, while an additional round has been found on the exterior of the White House.

Police believe the suspect, 21-year-old Oscar Ramiro Ortega of Idaho, is mentally ill. Ortega has an extensive record, ranging from domestic violence to drug charges. Sources say a police investigation has uncovered evidence suggesting Ortega has a fixation on the White House.

Most of these cases involve the mentally ill, rather than a political motive — a lesson the media learned again after the shooting in Tucson that gravely injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six other people. The Boss Emeritus figures that the media will still tie Ortega to conservatives in some way, but I’d bet that we hear mostly that the suspect has been known to be dangerous for quite some time. ABC already reports that people knew of his “fixation” on the White House, which prompts a perhaps-unfair question as to why the Secret Service didn’t stop the attack in the first place. Until an attack or a specific threat takes place, the Secret Service can only track suspects, and keeping as many people as they have to investigate under constant watch is simply not possible. The immediate identification of the suspect makes it appear that they had an inkling of Ortega’s potential for trouble.

Again, let’s hope they find Ortega before he hurts himself, and especially before he hurts anyone else.