Gunman Opens Fire Near White House — Suspect Killed at Secret Service Checkpoint

Picture this: it's a Saturday evening in Washington, D.C., just past 6 p.m. Journalists are setting up cameras on the White House North Lawn, tourists are nearby, and the city is humming along — and then somewhere between 15 and 30 gunshots ring out.

A suspect was shot and killed after opening fire on a U.S. Secret Service checkpoint outside the White House Saturday night, a Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. The shooting happened shortly after 6 p.m. when a male approached the Secret Service checkpoint at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, pulled a gun from a bag and opened fire on officers. Secret Service officers returned fire, hitting the suspect, who later died at a hospital. A bystander was also wounded. The victim had successful surgery Saturday night and remains in serious but stable condition, according to law enforcement sources.

President Trump was at the White House during the incident, "but was not impacted," a Secret Service spokesperson said. In a post on Truth Social early Sunday, Trump thanked law enforcement for their actions to stop the gunman.

Now here's where it gets more complicated — and frankly, more troubling. The suspect was identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best of Dundalk, Maryland, the Metropolitan Police Department said Sunday. This wasn't a stranger to the system. Documents obtained by CBS News show Best previously blocked a White House entry lane in June 2025, telling agents he was Jesus Christ and wanted to be arrested. Best was sent for a mental evaluation and again tried to access the White House area in July 2025. He was then arrested by Secret Service agents and charged with unlawfully entering a federally controlled property in Washington. He was ordered by a judge to stay away, according to court documents.

While investigating the encounters last year, investigators discovered Best had made various statements on social media, including claiming he was "the real" Osama bin Laden, and at least one post indicating his desire to harm Trump, the source said.

Despite all of that — the arrests, the psychiatric evaluation, the court order — he showed up again. D.C. Superior Court records show Best was released after an arraignment on the unlawful entry charge, but he failed to appear for an Aug. 7, 2025, status hearing, prompting a no-bond, D.C.-only bench warrant that authorizes law enforcement to arrest him.

CBS News' own crew was preparing to record for "CBS Weekend News" when they heard what sounded like multiple gunshots near the White House and "ducked to the ground," before being ushered inside the White House shortly after. The lockdown, which included the White House grounds, was lifted at 6:46 p.m.

Why does this matter beyond just a scary headline? Because it was the third incidence of gunfire in the vicinity of President Donald Trump in the past month. The gunfire Saturday came nearly a month after what law enforcement authorities said was an attempted assassination of the president as he attended the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at a Washington hotel on April 25. Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, recently pleaded not guilty to charges that he attempted to kill Trump. Allen is accused of running through a security checkpoint inside the hotel and firing a shotgun at a Secret Service officer. That's a pattern that's hard to ignore — and one that's raising serious questions about how the country handles threats at the intersection of mental health and security.