A man who was already known to the U.S. Secret Service approached the White House complex on Saturday evening, took a gun out of a bag and opened fire before being shot and fatally wounded by Secret Service police officers.
A bystander was also struck by gunfire, the Secret Service said in a statement, though it did not give details on the nature or severity of the injuries. It was unclear who fired the shot that struck the bystander.
The gunman, who was identified by two officials with knowledge of the investigation as Nasire Best, 21, was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. No officers were injured, the Secret Service said.
The shooting took place a little after 6 p.m. near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, at the northwestern corner of the White House grounds.
President Trump, who was in the building at the time, had made it known on Friday that he would be spending the long holiday weekend at the White House.
Within the last month, two people have been arrested after opening fire in the vicinity of top U.S. officials.
On April 25, a man from California who was armed with a shotgun, handgun and several knives charged past a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Mr. Trump was due to speak, before being subdued by Secret Service agents.
On May 4, a man from Texas was wounded during an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service officers near the Washington Monument, accused of making vulgar statements about the White House afterward, as he was being taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
Mr. Best had been arrested last July for walking into a restricted area on the White House grounds, ignoring signs and commands to stop. At that time, according to an affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court, Mr. Best had already been known to Secret Service personnel “for walking around the White House complex inquiring how to gain access at various entry posts.”
He had briefly been involuntarily held that June for blocking a vehicle entry on the east side of the White House, the affidavit said. At the time of that arrest, on a misdemeanor charge of unlawful entry, he had no pending warrants. He told officers at the scene that “he was Jesus Christ and that he wanted to get arrested.”
Court records show that a judge issued a “stay away order” the day of his arrest, apparently barring him from the area around the White House. After he did not show up for a hearing in August, a bench warrant was issued.
On Saturday evening, the flurry of gunfire prompted a brief White House lockdown, and rattled the reporters who were gathered on the North Lawn.
Selina Wang, a senior White House correspondent for ABC News, posted a video on social media of her recording a report when what sounds like gunfire can be heard in the background.
She was about three seconds into the recording when the noises are heard, and she dropped to the floor for cover.
“I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots,” she wrote on X. “It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now.”
Allison Robbert, a photographer for The New York Times, said that about 20 to 30 gunshots were heard from the north lawn of the White House.
“Journalists heard it from outside the press room and were ushered inside by Secret Service,” she said in a text message.
Christopher Mele and Mark Walker contributed reporting.
Campbell Robertson reports for The Times on Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.
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