Suspect killed after opening fire on Secret Service near White House

The suspect in a shooting near the White House was killed in an exchange of fire with Secret Service agents on Saturday evening, officials have confirmed.

BBC’s US media partner CBS has named the suspect as Nasire Best, a 21-year-old man who was known to the Secret Service and had a documented history of mental health conditions.

In a post to Truth Social, Donald Trump thanked the Secret Service for their “swift and professional action” in apprehending the gunman, who he said had a “violent history and possible obsession with our Country’s most cherished structure”.

The shooting comes just one month after a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The incident on Saturday remains under investigation, and road closures around the White House will likely stay in place overnight.

Shortly before 18:00 (23:00 GMT) on Saturday, a man pulled a gun from his bag and “began firing” outside the White House at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Secret Service officers returned fire, striking the gunman. He was then taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A bystander was also wounded in the shooting, but the Secret Service did not further details on their condition. No officers were injured in the attack.

CBS and other US media later identified the suspect as Nasire Best. He was known to both the Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department, law enforcement sources told CBS, and used a revolver.

A source familiar with the investigation told CBS that Best had tried to gain entry to the White House in July 2025 and was arrested near it by Secret Service, after which he spent time in a psychiatric facility. He has been living in Washington DC for eighteen months.

“Thank you to our great Secret Service and Law Enforcement for the swift and professional action taken this evening against a gunman near the White House,” Trump wrote in a post on social media.

He noted that the event was one month removed from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, and said it showed how important it was “for all future Presidents, to get, what will be, the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington”.

After the shots were heard, reporters at the White House were rushed into a briefing room. Some had been filming when the incident occurred, and shots could be heard in the distance as they spoke to camera.

Footage shared by the ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang showed her taking cover as a volley of shots could be heard across the North Lawn.

“We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now,” Wang wrote on X.

Aaron Navarro, a CBS News reporter, told BBC news channel he was on the North Lawn when he could hear the gunshots, “at points sounding like they were coming from different guns, just outside the grounds”.

He said that “as soon as we heard it we ducked down and I started to see other reporters starting to run, and you shortly heard Secret Service officers saying get inside, get inside.”

Once inside, he said reporters were locked down in the press briefing room for around 30 minutes. Outside, they saw Secret Service officers and then, just beyond the grounds, they eventually saw images of ambulances.

Navarro said it’s unclear where exactly Trump was inside the White House when the shooting took place and “whether he even heard it, as it was a good distance”.

He said the shooting took place in a busy area with a cafe and restaurants, but it wasn’t as busy as it could have been since it was after the workday and on the weekend.

“It certainly is a tense moment generally when it comes to security and President Trump,” Navarro said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson praised the Secret Service for their response to the shooting, with Thune writing on a social media that he was “grateful” for Secret Service agents “decisive action” to protect the president.

Johnson said on X: “We are grateful for our brave Secret Service agents who took quick, decisive action to protect President Trump, and our prayers are with the victims of tonight’s senseless shooting for a speedy recovery.”

المصدر: MyJoyOnline (GH)