A bystander was shot and killed by a U.S. Secret Service officer on Sunday after a man opened fire at a checkpoint outside the White House and was in serious but stable condition.
The bystander, who has not been identified, suffered a gunshot wound that was described as non-life-threatening, the Secret Service said. It’s unclear how he was shot.
Authorities have released some additional details about the Saturday evening shooting. The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department said the suspect has been identified as 21 years old Nasir BestWhen Secret Service officers returned fire, he began shooting at a White House security checkpoint. Best, of Dundalk, Maryland, was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
president Donald Trump was at the White House when the shooting occurred.
It was the third shooting near the president in the past month, after a man stormed the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner armed with a gun and a knife, and earlier this month Secret Service officers shot and wounded a man who fired at them near the Washington Monument.
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Trump said in a post on The Truth Society that the suspect in Saturday’s shooting “may have had an obsession with some of our nation’s most treasured buildings.” He also used the shooting to promote a ballroom he is building on the site of the White House’s former East Wing, saying the shooting “demonstrates how important it is for all future presidents to have access to the most secure space of its kind ever created in Washington, D.C.” Trump is asking Congress for $1 billion to increase security on the White House campus, including the ballroom.
Best has had previous run-ins with law enforcement near the White House, according to District of Columbia court records. Last July, he was arrested while trying to enter White House grounds near another checkpoint. He disobeyed police orders to stop, claimed to be Jesus Christ and said he wanted to be arrested.
Best was a track and field athlete at Dundalk High School and graduated in 2023.
A woman who identified herself as Best’s mother told The Washington Post she learned about the shooting on social media and was in disbelief. She said her son “was never violent, no matter what people posted.”
