US President Donald Trump’s press conference cut short after just for a couple of minutes by the Secret Service, which escorted him out of the briefing room amid reports of shots fired outside the White House.
Furthermore, armed Secret Service police were seen patrolling the grounds of the presidential
residence on Monday afternoon, as they ordered puzzled reporters to leave the briefing room.
Multiple outlets reported two “loud pops” outside the White House.
“It was a shooting outside the White House,”
Trump said after the press conference resumed, thanking the Secret Service for its quick reaction.
“Do I seem rattled?” the president said after a reporter asked if the experience had rattled him.
The Secret Service took him to the nearby Oval Office for several minutes, until they secured the perimeter, Trump explained.
REPORTER: “Are you rattled by this at all?”
TRUMP: “Do I seem rattled?” pic.twitter.com/oFDcinLKrU
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 10, 2020
According to various reporters, the incident took place on 17th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Old Executive Office Building.
Trump said that law enforcement shot a suspect.
The Secret Service later said that one of their agents and one suspect were taken to the hospital.
Though their condition remains unknown, the Service noted that “at no time during this incident
was the White House complex breached or were any protectees in danger.”
Update: the investigation into a USSS officer involved shooting is ongoing. A male subject and a USSS officer were both transported to a local hospital. At no time during this incident was the White House complex breached or were any protectees in danger.
— U.S. Secret Service (@SecretService) August 10, 2020
The incident “might have had nothing to do with me,” Trump told reporters.
There has been a spike in gun violence in the US capital in recent months, following
the anti-police protests triggered by the death of George Floyd, an African-American man, in police custody in Minnesota.
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