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Washington : A person who approached a White House security checkpoint and began firing at officers has died, according to federal officials.
The US Secret Service said in a statement late Saturday that, according to a preliminary investigation, the person approached a checkpoint shortly after 6 pm ET, “removed a weapon from his bag and began firing at posted officers”.
Officers returned fire and hit the suspect, who was transported to an area hospital, where he later died, according to the Secret Service.
A bystander was struck, but a law enforcement official said it wasn’t clear whether that person was struck by the suspect’s initial bullets or those fired subsequently by officers.
Secret Service said none of its officers were injured, and that President Donald Trump — who was at the White House at the time — was not “impacted.”
Journalists working at the White House on Saturday reported hearing a series of gunshots and were told to seek shelter inside the press briefing room.
On X, the Secret Service earlier said it was “aware of reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW” — one block from the White House — and was “working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground”.
Evidence of the shooting was visible on a sidewalk just outside the White House complex, where yellow crime scene tape snaked across the pavement and officers with the US Secret Service placed dozens of orange evidence markers on the ground. Medical material, including what appeared to be purple surgical gloves and kits typically used by emergency medical personnel, were also seen.
In a post shared on X, ABC News senior White House correspondent Selina Wang shared dramatic video of the moment she said she heard what “sounded like dozens of gunshots” and ducked for cover. Writing that she had been performing a routine task that White House reporters do daily — filming themselves on a cellphone for a social media post — Wang’s video shows her speaking for a few seconds about Trump’s statements earlier Saturday about a potential Iran deal.
As the sounds of gunfire are heard in the background, Wang’s eyes grow wider, and she ducks down in the media tent, which is among those situated in a line along the White House driveway where broadcasters film their reports. On X, Wang’s video had been shared thousands of times as of Saturday evening, and viewed at least 3 million times.
The Metropolitan Police Department said on its X Account that the Secret Service was working the scene and cautioned people to avoid the area. The scene is near where a gunman ambushed two members of the West Virginia National Guard last November.
US Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her wounds. Andrew Wolfe, then 24, was critically wounded. Rahmanullah Lakanwal has been charged in that incident.
The gunfire Saturday comes nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities said was an attempted assassination of the president on April 25 as he attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at a Washington hotel. Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill Trump and remains in federal custody.
Following that scare, Secret Service officers shot a suspect they said had fired at officers near the Washington Monument, also near the White House. Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was charged in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in connection with the May 4 shooting. A teenage bystander was wounded in that incident. (AP)
