Construction cranes and the American flag outside the White House on Thursday, April 16, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Graham Sloan | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The U.S. Secret Service said Saturday that the person who opened fire at the White House security checkpoint was killed by gunfire from police officers who returned fire. This is the third shooting near President Donald Trump in the past month.
Law enforcement said in a preliminary statement published in X that a person in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue “removed a weapon from a bag” and began firing shortly after 6 p.m. ET. The Secret Service said the officers returned fire and struck the suspect, who was taken to a hospital where he later died.
The suspect has been identified as 21-year-old Nasir Best, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation.
This is the third shooting incident near the president in the past month, following incidents at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in April and near the Washington Monument in early May.
A bystander was also shot Saturday, but law enforcement officials said it was unclear whether that person was struck by the suspect’s first bullet or by a subsequent shot fired by an officer.
The Secret Service said no staff were injured and President Donald Trump, who was in the White House at the time, was not “affected.”
Evidence of the shooting could be seen on the sidewalk just outside the White House complex, where yellow crime scene tape snaked along the sidewalk and U.S. Secret Service agents placed dozens of orange evidence markers on the ground. Medical supplies, including what appeared to be purple surgical gloves and kits typically used by emergency medical workers, were also seen.
In a post shared on X, ABC News senior White House correspondent Serena Wang shared a dramatic video of the moment she ducked for cover after hearing “what sounded like dozens of gunshots.” Wang wrote that she was doing what White House reporters do every day: filming themselves on their cellphones to post on social media, but the video shows her speaking for a few seconds about President Trump’s comments on Saturday about a possible Iran deal.
When gunshots are heard in the background, Wang ducks into the media tent, eyes wide. The tent is one of many that line the driveway of the White House where broadcasters film news coverage. On X, Wang’s video had been shared thousands of times and viewed at least 3 million times as of Saturday night.
The Metropolitan Police Department said on its X account that the Secret Service was on the scene and warned people to avoid it. The scene is near the site where a gunman ambushed two West Virginia National Guard soldiers last November.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, a U.S. Army specialist, died from her injuries. Andrew Wolfe, 24 at the time, was seriously injured. Rahmanullah Rakanwar was charged in the case.
Saturday’s shooting occurred nearly a month after law enforcement officials said it was an attempted assassination of the president as he attended the annual meeting at a Washington hotel on April 25. Cole Thomas Allen, of Torrance, California, recently pleaded not guilty to charges of attempting to kill President Trump and remains in federal custody.
In response to the scare, Secret Service agents shot and killed a suspect who allegedly fired at police officers near the Washington Monument, also near the White House. Michael Marks, 45, of Midland, Texas, was charged in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in connection with the May 4 shooting. A teenage bystander was injured in the incident.
