Donald Trump was in the Oval Office on Saturday evening when a gunman, later identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, opened fire at a Secret Service checkpoint near the White House in Washington, DC, shortly after 6 p.m., according to law enforcement sources, raising immediate questions about whether Trump was the intended target. Best, who reportedly believed he was Jesus Christ, was shot dead by Secret Service officers after firing only a few rounds.
This is the latest in a string of violent incidents occurring in close proximity to the president. A month earlier, a lone gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, an event that Trump attended.
Before that, another attacker tried to assassinate Trump at a campaign rally in July 2024, grazing his ear with a bullet. Against that backdrop, any gunfire near the White House now lands in a country already on edge about political violence.
What We Know About the White House Shooting
Investigators say the confrontation began when Nasire Best was seen pacing in an agitated way along 17th Street NW, close to the White House perimeter. Sources told the New York Post that he approached a Secret Service checkpoint at around 6:10 p.m., produced a revolver and began shooting.
He managed only a few shots before members of the Secret Service Uniformed Division opened fire in response, killing him in what witnesses described as a hail of bullets. In the exchange, at least one bystander was struck and seriously wounded. Officials have not yet released that person's identity or an update on their condition.
There has been no formal declaration of motive. Court records and briefings describe Best as mentally troubled and already well known to the Secret Service. He had repeatedly loitered around access points to the White House and was under a court order to stay away from the area which he had previously violated.
The FBI quickly confirmed that it was assisting the Secret Service. 'FBI is on the scene and supporting Secret Service responding to shots fired near White House grounds, we will update the public as we're able,' Director Kash Patel posted on X. No further official detail about what Best may have intended has yet been made public, so any claim that Trump himself was the specific target remains unproven until investigators speak on the record.
Nasire Best's History
What is clear is that this was not Best's first contact with authorities around the president's residence. Court documents show he had been involuntarily committed on 26 June after obstructing traffic at 15th Street and E Street NW. On 10 July he was arrested again, this time for unlawful entry, after bypassing a restricted pedestrian post by slipping through an exit turnstile lane near the White House.
The White House shooting suspect allegedly claimed he was Jesus Christ in a police run-in months before he was killed in a skirmish with the Secret Service. https://t.co/ibwx7ZnioR
— Us Weekly (@usweekly) May 24, 2026
When DC police and Secret Service agents detained him in that July incident, records say he made delusional statements. 'Best claimed he was Jesus Christ and that he wanted to get arrested,' one court filing notes. Those beliefs, combined with repeated efforts to get close to the complex, are central to how officials are now piecing together his mental state and possible motivations.
So far, however, no agency has publicly described Saturday's shooting as politically motivated, even as politicians rush to frame it within a broader narrative of rising domestic extremism.
Panic on the North Lawn
The sound of gunfire ripped through what had been a routine evening on the North Lawn. Members of the press corps, many of them outside filming stand‑ups or recording updates, described hearing what seemed like a burst of dozens of shots.
'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,' ABC senior White House correspondent Selina Wang said. 'It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now.'
@selinawangtv 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. It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now.
♬ original sound - Selina Wang
The Secret Service immediately locked down the White House, ordering reporters first to gather on the North Lawn and then to run into the James S. Brady briefing room. About 30 minutes later, the lockdown was lifted. The shooting took place less than two hours after Trump had posted on Truth Social that he was in the Oval Office working on a peace deal with Iran, though officials have not tied the timing to any specific grievance.
On Sunday morning, Trump used Truth Social to thank the agents who had responded. 'Thank you to our great Secret Service and Law Enforcement for the swift and professional action taken this evening against a gunman near the White House, who had a violent history and possible obsession with our Country's most cherished structure,' he wrote. 'The gunman is dead after an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service Agents near the White House gates.'
21-year-old Nasire Best, identified as the alleged White House shooter, reportedly believed he was Jesus, according to investigators.😲👀⛓️ pic.twitter.com/tFEJdJZ9Zm
— Raphousetv (RHTV) (@raphousetv2) May 24, 2026
Trump then linked the incident to the earlier attack at the Correspondents' Dinner, calling Saturday's shooting 'one month removed' from that event and arguing it showed 'how important it is, for all future Presidents, to get, what will be, the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington, D.C. The National Security of our Country demands it!'
Leaders Condemn Violence
Politicians on both sides of the aisle moved quickly to denounce the shooting. House Speaker Mike Johnson thanked the 'brave Secret Service agents who took quick, decisive action to protect President Trump' and said his prayers were with the wounded bystander, calling the attack 'senseless.' Republican Representative Cory Mills echoed the sentiment, saying 'there is no place in America for political violence, and every leader should be condemning it unequivocally.'
The White House shooter has been identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best, who believed he was Jesus Christ—NYP pic.twitter.com/TnL64wbkP3
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) May 24, 2026
Democratic Representative Betty Column also strongly condemned the shooting and urged Americans to 'unite behind a common belief that our differences should be resolved at the ballot box.' Her language captured a rare moment of bipartisan agreement that whatever people think of Trump, gunfire at the gates of the presidency is beyond the bounds of politics.
Investigators have not yet determined whether Best's actions were driven solely by delusion or influenced by a combination of mental illness and political fixation. Authorities, including the FBI and Secret Service, have yet to release their official findings, leaving questions about his intended target or possible ideological motives unanswered. For now, any conclusions surrounding the events on 17th Street remain speculative.
