The Associated Press

· Posted: May 23, 2026 6:59 PM EDT | Last Updated: 14 minutes ago

The U.S. Secret Service shot a person near the White House on Saturday, and a bystander also was shot, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

A law enforcement official told Reuters that authorities at the White House engaged a person who shot at a check point, adding that a suspect was "down" and taken to hospital.

More to come

This is a breaking update. A previous version of this story can be read below.

Law enforcement authorities are responding to shots that were fired near the White House grounds on Saturday, FBI Director Kash Patel said.

Journalists working there reported hearing a series of gunshots and were told to seek shelter inside the press briefing room, where U.S. Secret Service officers prevented them from leaving.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries. On X, Secret Service said it was "aware of reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW" — one block from the White House — and was "working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground."

In a social media post, Patel said officers were responding to shots fired and said he would "update the public as we're able."

U.S. President Donald Trump was inside the White House at the time.

Journalists look out of windows in the White House press briefing room after gunshots were heard nearby. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)

The Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for information.

The gunfire Saturday comes nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities described as an attempted assassination of the president at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at a Washington hotel.

Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, Calif., recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill Trump at the April 25 event. He remains in federal custody.

On May 4, Secret Service officers shot a suspect they said had fired at officers near the Washington Monument, also near the White House.

Michael Marx, 45, of Midland, Texas, was charged in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in connection with that shooting, in which a teenage bystander was wounded.