A large deployment of FBI, U.S. Secret Service, and local police responded to the area around the White House on Saturday evening following reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
According to AFP journalists on the scene, police cordoned off access to the White House and National Guard troops blocked entry to the area. President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time, engaged in negotiations with Iran.
Journalists who were on the North Lawn said they were ordered to run and shelter in the White House press briefing room. ABC News correspondent Selina Wang posted footage showing her taking cover as a volley of bangs was heard across the north lawn. “We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now,” she wrote on X.
The U.S. Secret Service said it was aware of “reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW” and was working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground. FBI Director Kash Patel said officers were responding and would update the public as more information became available.
CNN reported that two people were shot and wounded during an encounter with Secret Service near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street Northwest. A law enforcement official told Reuters that the shooting suspect was “down” and taken to George Washington Hospital, and that a bystander was also shot. Both were said to be in critical condition.
Fox News host Bret Baier, citing a senior administration official, said a gunman approached the west side of the White House and fired three times before Secret Service agents returned fire. The gunman never breached the White House security perimeter.
The investigation remains ongoing, and a significant police presence was still in place near the scene as of Saturday night. The incident comes a month after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
