Maryland man killed after White House checkpoint shooting, had claimed to be Jesus

Nasire Best had been moving through the White House perimeter for months, leaving behind a trail of police contact, court action and mental-health crisis that never produced a durable stop. The 21-year-old Maryland man had cut off contact with even his closest friends and began claiming that he was Jesus Christ, a turn in behavior that should have raised alarms long before the shooting.

Court records show Best was arrested in July 2025 after trying to enter a restricted pedestrian checkpoint near the White House. During that encounter, he allegedly told authorities he was Jesus Christ and wanted to be arrested. A court later issued a stay-away order barring him from the White House area, but authorities also later issued a bench warrant after he failed to appear for a hearing tied to the earlier incidents.

Reports say Best had multiple prior encounters with the Secret Service. He was also involuntarily committed on June 26, 2025, after allegedly obstructing vehicle entry near part of the White House complex. That sequence, a mental-health crisis followed by trespassing behavior and then a court order, points to a system that identified danger but did not hold the line long enough to prevent a more serious confrontation.

On May 23, 2026, Best was killed after opening fire near a White House security checkpoint. Secret Service agents returned fire, the White House went under lockdown, and a bystander was critically wounded. The shooting unfolded in one of the most heavily protected areas in Washington, a place where gaps in coordination between law enforcement, courts and support systems can carry immediate public consequences.

The episode came months after another major attack blocks from the White House in November 2025, when two West Virginia National Guard members were shot in what officials described as a targeted ambush. One woman and one man in their 20s later underwent surgery, underscoring how the security zone around the White House has remained under sustained strain.

Best’s case now sits at the intersection of public safety and untreated deterioration: repeated warnings, a stay-away order, a bench warrant and an involuntary commitment, all before gunfire reached a checkpoint near the presidency.