A shooting incident near the White House on Saturday afternoon left two people in critical condition after U.S. Secret Service agents opened fire on an individual in the vicinity of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, just one block from the presidential complex.
According to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation, both the person shot by Secret Service agents and a bystander struck during the incident sustained critical injuries. President Donald Trump was inside the White House at the time of the shooting.
Journalists working at the White House reported hearing a series of gunshots and were immediately instructed to seek shelter inside the press briefing room. The incident unfolded during what had been a routine Saturday afternoon at the presidential residence.
ABC News senior White House correspondent Selina Wang captured dramatic video footage of the moment gunfire erupted. Wang had been filming herself on a cellphone for a social media post, performing a routine task that White House reporters do daily, when she heard what "sounded like dozens of gunshots." The video shows Wang speaking about Trump's statements earlier Saturday regarding a potential Iran deal before the sounds of gunfire are heard in the background. Her eyes visibly widen as she ducks for cover in the media tent situated along the White House driveway where broadcasters film their reports. By Saturday evening, Wang's video had been viewed at least 3 million times and shared thousands of times on X.
The Secret Service confirmed on X that 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." The agency indicated it would provide an update shortly.
FBI Director Kash Patel also addressed the incident through social media, stating that officers were responding to shots fired and promising to "update the public as we're able."
Evidence of the shooting was clearly visible on a sidewalk just outside the White House complex. Yellow crime scene tape stretched across the pavement as U.S. Secret Service officers placed dozens of orange evidence markers on the ground. Medical material, including what appeared to be purple surgical gloves and kits typically used by emergency medical personnel, were also observed at the scene.
The Metropolitan Police Department cautioned people to avoid the area on its X account, noting that the Secret Service was working the scene. The location is near where a gunman ambushed two members of the West Virginia National Guard last November. In that incident, U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her wounds, while Andrew Wolfe, then 24, was critically wounded.
Saturday's shooting comes nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities said was an attempted assassination of the president on April 25 as he attended the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at a Washington hotel. Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill Trump and remains in federal custody.
Following that incident, Secret Service officers shot a suspect they said had fired at officers near the Washington Monument, also near the White House, on May 4. Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was charged in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in connection with that shooting. A teenage bystander was wounded in that incident as well.
Federal authorities have not yet released additional details about Saturday's shooting, including the identity of the individuals involved or what precipitated the Secret Service response. The investigation remains ongoing as law enforcement officials work to piece together the sequence of events that led to the gunfire in one of the most heavily secured areas of the nation's capital.
