A Texas man has been charged with shooting at Secret Service agents this week at the National Mall, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Shots rang out just south of the White House on Monday afternoon in an exchange of gunfire with agents that grazed a young bystander in an area packed with pedestrians, officials said.
The suspect, identified by the authorities as Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was fired on by Secret Service agents and taken to a hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. No law enforcement officials were injured. A 15-year-old boy hit by gunfire, whose identity has not been released, was treated for a non-life-threatening wound, officials said.
Mr. Marx is facing three federal charges: assaulting federal officers with a dangerous weapon, using and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
“We will prove this defendant carried an illegal firearm into the heart of Washington, D.C., opened fire at Secret Service officers near a crowded intersection and shot an innocent bystander who was simply crossing the street with his family,” Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in Washington, said in a statement.
According to the authorities, Mr. Marx has gone by aliases including Patrick Michael and Michael Zavici. Public records indicated that he was convicted of conspiracy to traffic drugs, a felony, about 15 years ago in Florida.
It was unclear whether he had a lawyer, and efforts to reach family members on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
The episode began shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Monday near the intersection of 15th Street Southwest and Independence Avenue, around the time Vice President JD Vance was leaving the White House in a motorcade.
According to federal prosecutors, Mr. Marx, who was on foot, appeared to be concealing a gun when he was spotted by a Secret Service agent “along the path of the Vice President’s motorcade.” Agents “issued verbal commands,” prosecutors said, adding that Mr. Marx then pulled a gun from his waistband, fled toward some bystanders and turned to fire at the officers. The authorities did not say how many shots he was accused of firing.
The prosecutors said that a civilian who was hit by gunfire — presumably the 15-year-old boy — was wounded in the leg, and that the officers fired at Mr. Marx, hitting him in the hand, the left arm and the upper abdomen.
Mr. Marx collapsed, prosecutors said, and the officers rendered aid and identified him by a driver’s license he was carrying. Investigators found a 9-millimeter handgun where he fell, and the authorities said that he had not been licensed to carry a handgun in the District of Columbia. It was unclear from court documents where Mr. Marx had obtained the weapon.
Prosecutors said that while Mr. Marx was in the ambulance after the shooting, he “allegedly made statements to officers” including an obscenity directed at the White House. He also said, “Kill me, kill me, kill me,” they said.
Matt Quinn, the deputy director of the Secret Service, had initially told reporters on Monday that there was no clear indication that the suspect was targeting the vice president. But Ms. Pirro said on Tuesday that he had expressed hostility toward the White House, pointing to his statements in the ambulance.
The shooting took place a little more than a week after a gunman stormed a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. The suspect in that case, Cole Tomas Allen, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president, assaulting a federal agent, transporting guns with the intent to commit a felony and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Jacey Fortin covers a wide range of subjects for The Times, including extreme weather, court cases and state politics across the country.
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