The White House was placed on lockdown on Monday afternoon after the US Secret Service shot a man near the Washington Monument, with press corps journalists evacuated from the north lawn and held inside the briefing room as emergency services responded to the scene.
The Secret Service confirmed the incident in a statement posted on X, saying: “US Secret Service personnel are on the scene of an officer-involved shooting at 15th Street and Independence Avenue in Washington, DC. One individual was shot by law enforcement; their condition is currently unknown. Please avoid the area as emergency crews are responding.”
Members of the press were evacuated from their camera positions on the White House north lawn shortly before 4pm, according to CNBC reporter Megan Cassella, who wrote on X that agents had gathered them in the briefing room with “no indication as to what’s going on.” She later reported they had been cleared and returned to their positions, though agents remained on the scene.
The incident unfolded just minutes before President Donald Trump was due to speak at a small business summit inside the East Room of the White House. The condition of the individual shot by law enforcement had not been confirmed at the time of publication.
The shooting comes less than two weeks after an attempted assassination rocked Washington on the night of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. On 25 April, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, opened fire near the main security screening area at the Washington Hilton, where Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and senior Cabinet members were in attendance. A Secret Service officer was struck in his bullet-resistant vest and was later released from hospital. Allen was arrested and charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
Allen, who had travelled to Washington by train from Los Angeles, was armed with a Mossberg 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a handgun, knives, and ammunition. Prosecutors allege he wrote a manifesto stating his intention to target members of the Trump administration at the dinner, from the highest-ranking official downwards.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen’s manifesto, sent to his family, described him as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and indicated he was determined to kill Trump administration officials.
Monday’s incident near the Washington Monument has raised fresh alarm given the heightened security climate already surrounding the capital. Concerns were further sharpened, according to the Mirror US, by the proximity of the shooting to the arrival of King Charles and Queen Camilla, who are currently on a state visit to the United States.
Full details of Monday’s shooting, including the identity of the individual shot and the circumstances leading up to the confrontation, had not been released by authorities at the time of writing.
