Police, the FBI and the Secret Service swarmed the area around the White House Saturday evening after reports of shots fired, AFP and other reporters said.
President Donald Trump was at the White House at the time as he worked to negotiate a deal with Iran. Police cordoned off access and National Guard troops blocked an AFP reporter from entering the area.
Journalists on the North Lawn said they were ordered to run and shelter in the press briefing room. ABC News correspondent Selina Wang shared footage of herself taking cover as a volley of bangs rang out across the north lawn. “We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now,” she wrote on X.
The BBC has contacted the Secret Service, the White House and local police. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the agency 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”.
CNN reported two people were shot and wounded in an encounter with Secret Service near the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street NW. FBI Director Kash Patel said on X that the agency “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.”
The incident comes less than a month after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting. The suspect in that case, Cole Tomas Allen, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to assassinate Trump and other charges.
