Donald Trump has announced that an armed suspect was shot by the United States Secret Service outside the White House. Mere seconds into his daily COVID-19 press conference, the US President was quickly rushed away from reporters into a safe-hold during the event, with the remainder of the conference placed into lockdown.
The suspect has since been escorted to hospital, reportedly suffering severe injuries.
Monday afternoon’s COVID-19 press conference was interrupted by the US Secret Service, following a potentially fatal shooting outside the White House.
Appearing a few minutes later, the US President confirmed the news to reporters. “Sorry for that. There was a shooting outside of the White House. Seems to be very much under control,” the President announced.
“There was an actual shooting. Somebody’s taken to the hospital…Seems that the person was shot by Secret Service.” The President then returned to his regular briefing, following the news that the US had surpassed 5 million coronavirus infections.
US President Donald Trump leaves news conference after reports of shooting outside White House https://t.co/VKj77JRawI pic.twitter.com/NLVB70nr2w
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) August 10, 2020
There has been no confirmation of the suspect’s identity, however, it has been noted that the shooting occurred near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Since the beginning of the George Floyd protests in Portland, the White House have actively enforced extra safety precautions around the site, including new fence installations and an increased presence of law enforcement.
“I don’t know. Do I seem rattled?” the President replied when asked if he was startled by the event.
If it was a call from Putin he’d be running out the door.
— Joe Isuzu (@isuzu_joe) August 10, 2020
Officer involved shooting. Not someone shot by the secret service.
This is why you have to fact check everything out of Trump’s mouth. https://t.co/ID2AiBWs5E
— Kaz Weida (@kazweida) August 10, 2020
