White House shooting suspect identified as Dundalk man Nasire Best
Nasire Best, 21, had already been stopped twice at the White House before he was killed near a checkpoint, raising questions about missed warning signs.
Federal investigators identified the man killed after opening fire near a White House checkpoint on Saturday as Nasire Best, a 21-year-old from Dundalk, Maryland, whose name had already surfaced in earlier encounters with Secret Service agents.
Court documents show Best blocked a White House entry lane in June 2025 and told agents he was Jesus Christ and wanted to be arrested. He was sent for a mental evaluation after that incident, then tried again in July 2025 to access the White House area. Secret Service agents arrested him and charged him with unlawfully entering a federally controlled property in Washington.
Those earlier episodes now sit at the center of a troubling question: how a person already known to federal officers was able to reappear near one of the most heavily protected sites in the country. The sequence points to gaps in threat assessment, follow-up and perimeter protection, especially when a person has already displayed erratic behavior at the same location.
CBS Baltimore reported that Best lived in Dundalk, in Baltimore County, graduated from Dundalk High School in 2023 and was a member of the school’s track and field team. Law enforcement sources and court documents also described possible mental health issues, adding another layer to a case that sits at the intersection of public safety and behavioral health.
The Secret Service said the president was uninjured. The shooting came about a month after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting in Washington, when President Trump was briefly evacuated and security officials again faced scrutiny over protecting the presidential complex.
For federal and local authorities, Best’s case underscores how prior warning signs, mental health concerns and repeated access attempts can collide at a security perimeter built to stop exactly this kind of escalation.
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