“This event is one month removed from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, and goes to show how important it is, for all future Presidents, to get what will be the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington D.C.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after the incident. “The National Security of our Country demands it.”
Trump also said the gunman had a violent history and a possible obsession with the White House, while praising Secret Service agents and law enforcement for what he described as their swift and professional response.
“Thank you to our great Secret Service and Law Enforcement for the swift and professional action taken this evening against a gunman near the White House, who had a violent history and possible obsession with our Country’s most cherished structure,” he wrote.
The shooting happened shortly after 6 p.m. local time when the suspect approached a Secret Service checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, pulled a gun from a bag and opened fire on officers.
Between 15 and 30 shots were fired during the exchange. Secret Service returned fire, killing the gunman. Trump, who was inside the White House at the time, was unharmed.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed he was on the scene supporting the Secret Service investigation.
The attack came one month after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting in April, when a gunman allegedly breached a security checkpoint with a shotgun and exchanged fire with Secret Service agents before being apprehended.
The two incidents within a month have intensified pressure on the administration to undertake a broader review of security infrastructure surrounding the White House complex.
