Shooting near White House: Suspect killed after opening fire on Secret Service agents

image Source, AFP via Getty Images

At approximately 18:00 local time (23:00 GMT), several journalists present at the White House heard gunshots.

Secret Service members took him to the press briefing room inside the building and the White House was placed on lockdown.

Sources told the BBC’s US partner CBS News that between 15 and 30 shots were fired and that it appeared to be the same gunman who approached the Secret Service agents and fired unsuccessfully at them. Then those agents retaliated.

American media reported that two people were injured in the shooting and both were taken to the hospital. CBS reports that one of those people is the suspect, who they say is in critical condition, and the other is a possible bystander.

The White House lockdown was then lifted at 19:00 local time (00:00 GMT).

We have yet to hear anything from President Donald Trump, who was in the White House at the time of the shooting. This comes just a month after a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.