Secret Service shoots man who fired at agents near Washington Monument
US Secret Service responds after a person was shot by law enforcement near the Washington Monument in Washington
By Brian Todd, Josh Campbell, Kit Maher, CNN
(CNN) — The US Secret Service says its officers shot an armed man Monday afternoon near the Washington Monument after he fired at agents and wounded a juvenile bystander.
Moments before the gunfire, Secret Service officers and agents who patrol the outer perimeter of the White House complex noticed “a suspicious individual that appeared to have a firearm,” USSS Deputy Director Matt Quinn told reporters during a press conference.
The man ran when uniformed Secret Service police approached him and he fired towards the officers, Quinn said. The officers returned fire, striking and wounding the man.
Authorities are investigating whether the alleged gunman may have attempted to access a White House entry-point earlier Monday, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation.
Based on a preliminary investigation, the suspect is believed to be a 45-year-old White man with past residency in both Maryland and Texas, the source said.
He was shot in the torso and is currently listed in stable condition in a local hospital, according to the source.
The juvenile bystander who was struck by the suspect was transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, Quinn said. A spokesperson for DC Police said the juvenile suffered a “graze wound.”
No Secret Service employees were injured.
Shortly before the shooting, Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade drove through the area where it happened — several blocks south of the White House complex — but the motorcade was not impacted, Quinn said. A source said Vance’s motorcade diverted from its intended destination out of an abundance of caution while his security team assessed the situation.
President Donald Trump spoke at an event in the East Room of the White House shortly after initial reports of the gunfire.
“President Trump was not in any danger, and there currently is no known nexus between the incident and the White House,” Quinn said in a statement to CNN.
The Secret Service briefly evacuated the White House press corps from the North Lawn where reporters do live shots, directing them into the briefing room. They were allowed to return about five minutes later.
The incident comes less than two weeks after Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from California, was accused of opening fire at the DC hotel where the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner was being held. Allen has not yet entered a plea after being charged with attempting to assassinate Trump.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
