Secret Service responded to an incident just after 11:30 a.m. on Saturday morning involving an unidentified man firing a self-inflicted gun shot along the north fence of the White House, sending staff into a lockdown. The federal law enforcement agency tweeted that there were no other reported injuries and that medical personnel had been called to respond to a male victim. All of the roads along the White House perimeter were subsequently shut down as a precaution, impacting pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
The Washington D.C. Police Department provided an update shortly after news broke, adding that a natural death squad had been called to the scene for what seems to be an apparent suicide.
Update: Adult male allegedly shot himself along the north fence line of the @WhiteHouse. No other injuries reported. Our natural death squad is on the scene. Will provide updates as they come in.
— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) March 3, 2018
The White House shelter shelter order was lifted after about 45 minutes, and the man has yet to be publicly identified.
The incident began at about 11:46 a.m. when the man approach the fence, “removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear at this time to have been directed towards the White House,” Mason F. Brayman, assistant special agent in charge for the Secret Service, said in a statement.
Donald Trump was not present at the time of the shooting as he is currently spending his weekend in Florida at his Mar-A-Lago estate. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters, “We are aware of the situation, the president has been briefed.”
(Via NBC News)