The sound of dozens of gunshots rang out outside the White House on Saturday evening, sending members of the press and others scrambling for safety as the building was reportedly put on lockdown.
Secret Service told reporters to gather on the north lawn and then run into the press briefing room shortly before 6:30 p.m., according to people there. Selina Wang said she was in the middle of taping on her iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when the shots were heard. “I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots,” Wang said. “It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now.”
It was not clear what caused the apparent gunfire. The shots came a little less than two hours after President Trump announced on Truth Social that he was in the Oval Office working on a peace deal with Iran.
The scare also came about a month after a lone gunman opened fired at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, an event Trump attended. That earlier shooting incident added an unsettling backdrop to Saturday’s alarm and left unanswered questions about how close the White House came to a potentially dangerous breach.
For the press pool on the grounds, the immediate story was simple: a routine evening turned fast, loud and uncertain, and the people assigned to watch the presidency ended up running for cover inside the White House itself.
