Shots fired near the White House, shooter killed

Donald Trump was in the presidential residence at the time of the shooting. He was not affected by the incident.

Published on 05/24/2026 at 07:18 Updated on 05/24/2026 at 10:27

Reading time: 1 minute

An man opened fire on a security checkpoint near the White House in Washington. Shortly after 6 p.m. (midnight in Paris) on Saturday, May 23, a man near the security perimeter of the White House “took out a gun from his bag and opened fire,” wrote Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service. “Secret Service police officers fired back and hit the suspect, who was taken to a local hospital where his death was confirmed. During the shooting, a passerby was also hit by bullets,” added this official, without giving details on the condition of this passerby. No Secret Service agent was injured.

Donald Trump, who has been the target of three presumed assassination attempts in the past two years, was at the White House at the time of the shooting, after canceling all his weekend outings due to the crisis with Iran. The U.S. president was not affected by the incident, according to the Secret Service spokesperson. “Thank you to our fantastic Secret Service agents and law enforcement for the quick and professional intervention tonight against an armed man near the White House, who had a history of violence and seemed obsessed with the most cherished building in our country,” wrote Donald Trump on his Truth social network.