Man Fatally Shoots Himself Outside North Fence of White House
President Donald Trump, at his resort in Florida, briefed
A man fatally shot himself outside the White House Saturday, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
“The subject approached the vicinity of the North White House fence line and removed a concealed handgun and fired several rounds, none of which appear at this time to have been directed towards the White House,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
No other injuries were reported besides the self-inflicted gunshot wound. Pedestrian and vehicle traffic was being routed around the incident, which occurred about 15 minutes before noon along the north fence line of the White House.
The Secret Service reported that the man has been identified but that his name is being withheld pending next of kin notifications.
President Donald Trump was at the so-called Winter White House, his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, when the incident occurred.
“We’re aware of the incident,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told the pool reporters at Mar-a-Lago. “The president has been briefed.”
Trump fired off a series of tweets less than an hour after the incident but about unrelated matters.
In his first tweet, the president said, “Mainstream Media in U.S. is being mocked all over the world. They’ve gone CRAZY!”
Trump’s second and third tweets were about trade.
“The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our ‘very stupid’ trade deals and policies,” he said in the second. “Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!”
In the third tweet, Trump added, “If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”
Watch: Security Gets a Nudge Around D.C.
[jwp-video n=”1″]