A armed man was killed Saturday night by Secret Service agents after opening fire near a White House checkpoint, at the corner of 17th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue, in the north-western part of the presidential complex. US President Donald Trump was inside the building at the time of the shooting, but he was not injured. According to the first reconstructions, the man approached the place of control, pulled a gun out of a bag and started shooting at the agents, who responded to the fire.
The man was identified as Nasire Best, 21, resident in Dundalk, Maryland. He was not an unknown for law enforcement: according to documents filed at the Washington court, he had already been noticed by the Secret Service because he wandered around the White House asking how he could enter from different accesses. In July last year he was arrested after entering a prohibited area of the complex, ignoring signs and orders to stop. In another episode, in June, he blocked the entry of a vehicle on the east side of the White House and told the agents to be Jesus Christ and want to be arrested.
In the shooting there was also a passerby, whose identity was not made public. The man was taken to the hospital and subjected to surgery; according to Associated Press, Sunday was in serious but stable conditions, with a wound not considered potentially mortal. It’s still unclear whether he was hit by Best’s shot bullets or those exploded by agents in the fire response. No Secret Service agent got hurt.
The shootings were also heard by journalists who were on the North Lawn of the White House, where some television crews were recording services. After the first hits, reporters were quickly entered into the press room and the building was put briefly in lockdown. Washington police are rebuilding the number of shots fired, the trajectory of bullets and the circumstances in which the passerman was wounded. When the investigation is completed, the case will also be examined by the Office of the Federal Prosecutor of the District of Columbia.
It is the third violent episode that happens a few meters from Donald Trump in the last few weeks. On April 25, a man armed with gun, gun and knives had passed a security check at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, where Trump was also there, and was then accused of attempted assassination of the president. On May 4, another man from Texas had been wounded in a firefight with Secret Service agents near the Washington Monument. After the Saturday shooting, Trump thanked the Secret Service and linked the episode to the need to further strengthen the security of the White House.
L’articolo What we know about the shooting of this Weekend near the White House proviene da IlNewyorkese.
