A child was caught in the crossfire during a Secret Service officer-involved shooting near the White House on Monday.
Secret Service personnel responded to the scene of an officer-involved shooting at the intersection of 15th Street and Independence Avenue, just outside the Washington Monument, around 3:30 p.m., the agency’s deputy director, Matthew Quinn, told the Daily Beast in a statement.
Quinn said that the incident began when a plainclothes officer called for backup after spotting a “suspicious” individual who appeared to be carrying a firearm. As uniformed officers arrived to support, the suspect fled on foot before reportedly drawing a firearm and firing at the officers.
A bullet fired by the suspect toward the Secret Service agents hit a juvenile, who is now recovering at a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Quinn said.
Officers returned fire and struck the suspect multiple times. The suspect, who has yet to be identified, is also recovering at the hospital.
No Secret Service officers were injured, Quinn said, and the agency maintains a security perimeter around the White House.
“President Trump was not in any danger, and there currently is no known nexus between the incident and the White House,” Quinn said in the statement. “This shooting illustrates the dangers our special agents and Secret Service police officers face every day.”
Quinn told reporters during a press briefing that “not long” before the shooting, Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade had passed through the area, according to NewsNation White House correspondent Libbey Dean.
The incident comes less than two weeks after 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen allegedly attempted to breach the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with firearms and knives, and was arrested by Secret Service agents at the April 25 event.
Allen, a California teacher, had written a manifesto in which he targeted top administration officials minus FBI Director Kash Patel.
The suspected gunman wrote that he was surprised by the supposed lack of security at the event. “I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,” he reportedly wrote, adding, “What the hell is the Secret Service doing?”
“Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again,” Cole raged.
