WASHINGTON — Federal authorities are investigating reports of gunfire that occurred close to the White House grounds on Saturday.
Media personnel present at the location on Saturday heard multiple gunshots and received instructions to take cover in the press briefing room. Secret Service agents prevented them from exiting the area.
No injuries were reported immediately, and details about what led to the incident remain unclear.
The Secret Service posted on X that they were “aware of reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW” — located one block away from the White House — and were “working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground.”
FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media that law enforcement was responding to the gunfire and stated he would “update the public as we’re able.”
President Donald Trump was at the White House when the shooting occurred.
The Metropolitan Police Department had not responded to information requests immediately.
This Saturday incident follows approximately one month after what authorities described as an assassination attempt against the president on April 25 during his attendance at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at a Washington hotel. Cole Tomas Allen, from Torrance, California, entered a not guilty plea recently to charges alleging he tried to kill Trump and is being held in federal detention.
After that incident, Secret Service agents shot a individual they claimed had opened fire on officers close to the Washington Monument, which is also in the White House vicinity. Michael Marx, 45, from Midland, Texas, faces charges in a complaint submitted to U.S. District Court regarding the May 4 shooting incident. A teenage bystander sustained injuries during that event.
