May 20, 2016

Secret Service Shoots Armed Man Outside the White House

“All Secret Service protectees are safe,” the agency says.

Andrew Harnik/AP

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Secret Service officers shot and arrested a man who brandished a gun outside the White House on Friday afternoon, according to a statement from the agency.

“Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers gave numerous verbal commands for the subject to stop and drop the firearm,” said Secret Service spokesman David A. Iacovetti. “When the subject failed to comply with the verbal commands, he was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody.”

The shooting took place at 2 p.m. on West Executive Drive, a closed street that runs next to the White House and leads to the West Wing. Neither President Barack Obama nor Vice President Joe Biden were in the White House during the incident, and the Secret Service confirmed that no one under its protection had been harmed.

The White House confirmed after the incident that no one else in the building was harmed. “No one within or associated with the White House was injured, and everyone in the White House is safe and accounted for,” a White House official told CNN.

The Secret Service has yet to release a name or any other information on the man who was shot. The White House lockdown that went into effect after the shooting has been lifted.

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