A man who fired shots Saturday evening outside the White House was killed when the Secret Service returned fire.
The shooting occurred just after 6 p.m. Saturday near the northwest corner of the White House grounds, around 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
The man “pulled a weapon from his bag and began firing,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
The agency said its officers returned fire, hitting the suspect, who was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The Secret Service said a bystander was also struck by gunfire but did not say whether the person was hit by the suspect or its agents.
President Trump was at the White House at the time, but neither he nor any Secret Service agents were “impacted,” the agency said.
The FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department responded to the shooting scene and are assisting the investigation.
Law enforcement has not publicly announced the suspect’s name, but an official speaking with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity identified him as 21-year-old Nasire Best.
Best was arrested in July for attempting to enter a White House security checkpoint without authorization, claiming he was Jesus Christ and wanted to be arrested.
Law enforcement has not yet identified the motive behind Saturday’s shooting or whether the suspect intended to harm the president.
However, it comes roughly a month after an assassination attempt on Mr. Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The president took to Truth Social after Saturday’s shooting to thank the Secret Service and law enforcement for their “swift and professional action.”
Mr. Trump said the gunman “had a violent history and possible obsession with our Country’s most cherished structure,” referring to the White House.
He cited Saturday’s shooting and the White House correspondents’ dinner attack as evidence of the need for the presidential ballroom and reconstructed East Wing he is building at the White House, saying it will be “the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington, D.C.”
