Secret Service shoots armed suspect near White House, juvenile bystander injured

An armed man got close enough to the White House perimeter on Monday afternoon to trigger a brief lockdown, a North Lawn evacuation and a gunfight with Secret Service officers, raising fresh questions about how a suspect carrying what officials described as a firearm reached one of the most heavily protected zones in Washington.

The confrontation began around 3:30 p.m. near the National Mall, outside the White House complex perimeter, when a plainclothes Secret Service officer saw a “suspicious individual that appeared to have a firearm,” Deputy Director Matt Quinn said during a press briefing. Uniformed Secret Service police followed the suspect briefly. Quinn said the man then ran on foot, fired in the direction of officers, and agents returned fire, striking him.

A juvenile bystander was also hit during the exchange and suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Emergency personnel transported both the suspect and the minor to hospitals. Quinn said investigators believed the bystander was struck by the suspect, but he would not say so definitively and referred questions about the wound to doctors.

The White House North Lawn was briefly evacuated and the White House was locked down as authorities responded. President Donald Trump continued a small business event without interruption while the security operation unfolded. Quinn also said Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade passed through the area shortly before the shooting, though he said there was no indication Vance was the target.

The Metropolitan Police Department is handling the use-of-force investigation, which is likely to focus on the suspect’s path, how he approached the perimeter, what prompted the confrontation, and whether any security procedures changed after the exchange. Those questions carry added weight because the episode came just over a week after another security scare involving the White House complex.

In that earlier case, a gunman identified as Cole Tomas Allen allegedly tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives, and a Secret Service officer was shot while wearing body armor and was not seriously injured. The FBI later said video from April 30 showed the alleged shooter at the April 25 dinner, and investigators reviewed video and the surrounding area.

The back-to-back incidents have put a hard spotlight on protective screening around the White House, where even a short lapse can turn into gunfire within sight of the nation’s most visible security line.