WASHINGTON: The White House was placed on lockdown and the surrounding areacordoned off by emergency personnel Saturday after an apparent gunshot washeard.
The US Secret Service said on Twitter that it was responding “to reports ofa person who allegedly suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound along thenorth fence line of White House.”
It said medical personnel were “responding to the male victim,” but thatthere were “no other reported injuries.”
The victim´s identity was not immediately known.
President Donald Trump was not at the White House at the time. He isspending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Reporters tweeting from the White House briefing room said they had beentold to shelter in place. Police cars and ambulances swarmed to the areaminutes after the incident.
Disturbances outside the White House are not rare. On Feb. 23, a woman wasarrested after crashing her vehicle into a security barrier near thepresidential residence.
And there have been repeated attempts to jump over fences around thebuilding.