U.S. President Donald Trump was abruptly escorted from the White House briefing room on Monday shortly after a shooting outside the fence surrounding the complex.
Trump returned to the media room after several minutes and said a person had been shot by law enforcement and to the hospital.
He said he understood the suspect had been armed.
“It was a shooting outside of the White House,” Trump said.
“It seems to be very well under control. … But there was an actual shooting, and somebody has been taken to the hospital. I don’t know the condition of the person.”
He said the shooting was near the fence at the edge of the White House grounds.
Nobody else was wounded in the shooting, Trump said. He praised the Secret Service response and said the agency would have more details on the event later.
“There were no details – we just found out just now,” Trump told reporters.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to queries about the incident.
Later, the US Secret Service said in a statement that a USSS officer, along with a “male subject”, was hospitalized after the shooting outside of the White House premises.
According to the statement, the White House complex has not been breached during the incident. The investigation is still ongoing. (AFP)
