Multiple gunshots were reportedly heard outside the White House, triggering a massive security response as police officers and federal agents rushed to the area surrounding the presidential complex. President Donald Trump was reportedly inside the White House at the time of the incident.
According to the report, the suspect allegedly opened fire at a security booth outside the White House where US Secret Service officers were stationed. Nearly 30 gunshots were heard near the White House complex at the intersection of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, close to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, according to law enforcement sources cited by CBS News.
Suspect killedย
A gunman who opened fire on Secret Service officers outside the White House has died after being shot, the agency said in a statement provided to US media.
The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, said a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
A bystander was also shot during the exchange of fire, the agency said, without providing the victim’s condition. After the gunman opened fire on agents at a security checkpoint near the White House, “Secret Service police officers returned fire, striking the suspect, who was transported to an area hospital, where he later died,” the statement said.
In a post shared on X, Selina Wang, the senior White House correspondent for ABC News, 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 task that reporters at the White House do day in and day out, 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.
US Secret Service statementย
The US Secret Service said in a statement late Saturday said 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.”
“Shortly after 6 PM Saturday, an individual in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue pulled a weapon from his bag and began firing. Secret Service Police returned fire, striking the suspect, who was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased. During the shooting, one bystander was also struck by gunfire. The President was in the White House during the incident,” the US Secret Service said.
Assassination attempts on Trump
The latest gunfire incident near the White House comes nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities described as an attempted assassination of Trump during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at a Washington hotel on April 25. According to officials, Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to kill Trump and remains in federal custody.
Trump has faced multiple security threats in recent years. In another incident, he was reportedly targeted while golfing at the Trump International Golf Club. Earlier, during the 2024 US presidential campaign, a gunman identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop during a campaign event. A bullet grazed Trumpโs right ear, causing visible bleeding, before Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper moments after he began firing.
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