What sounded like a sustained volley of gunshots was heard near the White House in Washington DC on Saturday evening, according to reporters for multiple outlets and audio posted on social media.
Selina Wang, a White House correspondent for ABC News, shared video on social media of the sound of gunfire interrupting her as she recorded a report on US negotiations with Iran. In the clip, Wang could be seen diving to take cover as what “sounded like dozens of gunshots” rang out.
“We were told to sprint to the press briefing room, where we are holding now,” Wang added.
The FBI director, Kash Patel, posted: “FBI is on the scene and supporting Secret Service responding to shots fired near White House grounds – we will update the public as we’re able.”
Donald Trump said earlier that he was in the Oval Office but did not immediately comment on the reported gunfire.
A senior administration official told Chad Pergram of Fox News that around 6pm local time, a gunman “brandished some sort of a pistol” outside the gates on the west side of the White House and fired three shots at the building before US Secret Service officers returned fire and “apparently took the gunman down”. The gunman’s condition has not yet been made public, and the suspect was taken to a nearby hospital, a law enforcement source told Reuters.
In the exchange of fire, a civilian on the street was shot, Pergram added. That person’s condition also was not yet known.
Chris Flanagan, an anchor for the local news channel DC News Now who took cover in the White House briefing room, reported that about 30 shots were fired, but that the security lockdown had been lifted.
A CBS News producer also estimated that at least 20 shots had been fired, and the the Secret Service said in a statement at about 6:45pm local time that it was “aware of reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW and are working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground”.
The shooting comes less than three weeks after a previous incident in which a man said to be brandishing a gun fired at a Secret Service officer near the route of JD Vance’s motorcade outside the White House. “A civilian witness standing behind the officer was wounded in his leg,” the Department of Justice said. Officers returned fire, striking the man in the hand, left arm and upper abdomen.
The gunfire Saturday also comes nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities said was an attempted assassination of the president on 25 April as he attended the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at a Washington hotel.