A man is dead after he shot himself in the head with a handgun Saturday outside of the White House, according to the Secret Service.
A man is dead after he shot himself in the head with a handgun Saturday outside of the White House, according to the Secret Service.
“At approximately 11:46 AM, a white male suffered a self-inflicted gun-shot wound to the head outside the North White House fence line,” the Secret Service said in a statement Saturday afternoon.
“The subject is deceased,” the statement said.
Authorities have identified the person but are withholding his name until their next of kin is notified, the Secret Service said.
The man appeared to have approached an area near the fence line, removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, according to the Secret Service.
None of the shots immediately appeared to have been aimed toward the White House, and no other persons were injured as a result of the incident, the Secret Service said. Neither President Trump nor the first lady were were at the White House at the time of the shooting.
Mr. Trump is currently in Florida and has been briefed on the incident, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told reporters Saturday.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department will be the lead agency investigating the shooting, the Secret Service said.
It was not immediately clear if law enforcement fired any shots during Saturday’s incident, and the MPD did not immediately return a message requesting additional information.
The area on the north side of the White House near where the shooting occurred is typically open to pedestrians but is policed heavily. Last week, meanwhile, a woman was arrested for allegedly driving her automobile while armed with a gun into a barricade nearer the building’s eastern entrance.
