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CNN Reporters Hear Dozens Of Gunshots Near White House; Secret Service Says Investigating Shots Fired Near White House; Two Shot And Wounded In Encounter With Secret Service Near White House. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired May 23, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00]
JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for that.
I want to bring in Chief Charles Ramsey, who is a CNN senior law enforcement analyst.
Chief, thanks so much for being here with us.
Again, we don't have a ton of details on -- on what type, you know, what kind of the circumstances were surrounding this, only that these gunshots were heard. They're going to have to figure out, was this some sort of violence within the city of Washington, D.C.? Was this violence that was targeted -- political violence at the White House? We know that the FBI is there on scene assisting local law enforcement help take people through what theyre going to be doing now, especially as we know the lockdown has been lifted.
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the fact that the lockdown has been lifted so soon, that's a good sign. Whatever it was that caused this to occur, whether it was gunshots or whatever it might have been, apparently they know exactly what it is that took place. If there was a threat, it's been neutralized by now, or they have someone in custody.
This could involve the Metropolitan Police Department, could be the U.S. Park Police. It could be Secret Service that were out there. That particular area, 17th and Pennsylvania avenue. All three of those agencies could possibly have officers there. So until we get a little bit more information, there's -- there's not a whole lot you can say other than its a good thing that they've allowed the press back outside once they lift the lockdown people are back outside again. That threat is no longer there, apparently.
DEAN: And you are a former police chief of the Washington, D.C. police department. That is a unique police department in that it is there in Washington where the president is, where the Secret Service works, where there are all of these layers of security. What should people know about how they all work in tandem and what might be going on amongst those law enforcement agencies right now?
RAMSEY: You know, the Washington national capital region is really unique in a lot of ways. And I came out of the Chicago Police Department after 30 years. And I -- after I left Washington, I went to Philadelphia.
There is no agency or area that really has the level of cooperation as smoothly as it happens in the national capital region. And it's because we its every day there's some kind of interaction, not necessarily at the top levels, but at the operational level. Officers you know, dealing with issues. There are so many jurisdictional issues in the District of Columbia that, you know, you learn to work with one another, seamlessly.
And so I'm not concerned at all that things, whatever it is, the investigation will be handled properly. Whether it's MPD, it depends on where it occurred, if it's in on, on the sidewalk where MPD would have jurisdiction, if its inside the Secret Service, I don't know if it is an area where the park police would have. But anyway, whatever it is, they'll make that decision and they'll handle it.
DEAN: All right. Thank you so much. Stay with us. We are looking at live pictures right now from dc there. And you see the police response right there. You appear to see a Secret Service vehicle and a number of law enforcement officials around the yellow tape that they have put out, where ostensibly those shots were fired.
I want to bring in CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent for President Obama, Jonathan Wackrow.
Jonathan, this is your former agency that is -- that we're looking at right now. They moved quite quickly to get everybody inside again, that lockdown has been lifted, which is Chief Ramsey was just saying indicates that the immediate threat has been neutralized. What more can you tell us about what you're looking at and what's going through your mind right now?
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yeah. Well, good evening, Jessica. And you know, to your point this is my former agency, but this is actually my area of operation for almost five years, while I was assigned to the presidents protective division at the White House. And I can say with firsthand knowledge that I've experienced many of these acute shock moments when a threat presents itself either directly at the White House or within the area, the Secret Service, both the agents in the uniform division officers have immediate action plans on what they need to do to make the compound safe in all of the occupants of the compound, the 18 acres, and the direct protectees.
And those are things that the Secret Service drills and practices time and time again to ensure that they can quickly react to what is going on. What I can say from what Chief Ramsey was saying is that it does appear that the emergent phase of this incident is over. The threat, the direct threat has been reduced. And we know that because the shelter in place or the lockdown at the White House has been lifted, what that does not mean, though, is that the Secret Service is now going to just revert into a more relaxed posture.
Actually, it's the opposite. They are going to maintain a heightened sense of awareness and physical security. You're going to see more uniform deterrence in and around the White House complex, because you just do not know what the nature of this threat is.
Is it a multi-pronged attack? Are there anybody else that could potentially be trying to launch a copycat shooting in and around the White House complex? So there's a lot that we don't know at this point in time. And because of that --
DEAN: Jonathan, I do want to I do want to interrupt you for one second. I'm so sorry, but we are just getting some new information that I want to pass along to people, and then we can get your thoughts on it.
A law enforcement official telling CNN two people were shot and wounded in an encounter with Secret Service. That's what we're learning right now. That is the new piece of information that we have there. Again, shot -- two people, shot and wounded in an encounter with Secret Service. What might that that piece of information tell you?
WACKROW: Well, again, its not a lot to go off of.
DEAN: Right.
WACKROW: But what it does mean -- what it does reveal to me is that within the within proximity of the White House, either uniformed division officers who were on routine patrol, remember the Secret Service protection doesn't start at the fence line. It actually radiates out in concentric rings of protection out from the White House.
So at one point in time, either a uniformed division officer, whether they're on routine patrol within the area or undercover special agents working in the area, saw a threat that presented itself and they took the direct action that is necessary because that threat may have presented against, just a regular civilian. It may not have been directed towards the White House.
So again, we don't know if this was a direct threat to the president. The administration, or the complex, but they saw a direct threat and they needed to immediately engage in neutralizing or maintaining control of that threat. Immediately they did their job. And now that we see that the reduced threat posture at the White House. So again, we don't know a lot here, but that is, you know, one of the two likely scenarios that played out here.
DEAN: All right. Jonathan, stay with us.
I do want to go to John Miller who is also joining us.
John, again, just bringing everyone up to speed. Our reporters heard dozens of gunshots outside the White House there. We now know from a law enforcement official that two people were shot and wounded in what they describe as an encounter with Secret Service. We also know that the lockdown at the White House has been lifted, indicating that that immediate threat has passed.
What I'm curious, John, your years of, of experience in all of this, we're looking at live pictures. I think you can see them as well. What does it tell you about their posture? It doesn't seem like there is, extreme urgency to, it seems to support I guess rather is a better way to say it, that the immediate threat has passed based on everyone's posture that were looking at. What do you think?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, let me walk you through, Jessica. The information we have and I say the information we have instead of what we know, because, you know, you and I have a lot of experience on these weekend events that break suddenly where the information comes in. And it will change and shift.
But let me give you what we have right now. Secret Service uniform division agents, and as Jonathan said, they're regularly on patrol in great numbers in that area immediately surrounding the White House. Here, shots fired. Respond to the sound of the shots fired.
There's an individual we are told, with a revolver who is firing shots outside the White House fence near the White House grounds. Those Secret Service officers put that over the radio. That generates a larger response. They confront this individual, shots are exchanged or shots are fired at the individual with the gun.
What we now know is that that individual, we are told, was taken down in that shooting, cannot tell you his condition at this time. We also know that another individual was shot. What we cannot tell you is was he shot in the crossfire between the gunman and Secret Service? Was he with the gunman? Was he shot by the gunman?
All of that is going to take a little while to sort out. We know that a command post has been established at 17th Street Northwest and E, that is where the FBI is responding right now. We've heard from Director Kash Patel saying that their resources are in route.
The FBI will take the investigation from a criminal standpoint into the assault on federal officers, the gunfight with the Secret Service, the Secret Service will work hand in hand with them right now, trying to figure out who is this individual, what or who was he shooting at? What was he doing near the White House?
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Does his motive have anything to do with the White House or the president?
And as Jonathan Wackrow said, they will build a full threat assessment around that to determine, is this incident over, as it appears to be, or is there more to it? And they will pull those threads, as they have in the past. I would -- I would -- I would take a minute to remind us that this is not long after the White House correspondents dinner, which I think was April 25th, where shots were fired again at Secret Service agents and the uniformed division at a security checkpoint by an individual who was trying to get to the president, allegedly by his own writing or the writing that authorities have attributed to him.
And then again, I believe it was on May 4th, you had another individual, a guy from midland, Texas, who was spotted by a Secret Service agent near the White House grounds, just as J.D. Vance motorcade was going by. This individual was spotted with a gun. The Secret Service agent, who was part of what Jonathan Wackrow was just telling us about those plainclothes people who blend into the background looking for these threats called the uniformed division in as they confronted the male in the street, he drew the weapon and allegedly fired at them. They fired back. He has now been charged with assault on a federal officer.
So what we have seen, along with this uptick of targeted violence and political violence that were all familiar with, is an uptick of violence in and around the White House, the Secret Service, the president, and this is the latest incident.
What we don't know right now is, was this an unrelated street shooting or was this something that had to do with the White House or the president? But that's what we have right now. And I'll reiterate one more time, some of this information may change, but this is what they've put together.
DEAN: And I think that the question you noted there at the end is key here and what they are working, as you and others have laid out, to determine right now, which is, is this street violence something that happened kind of on its own? Is this political violence, targeted violence at the White House, at the president, at others?
We do know, of course, that the that the president is in residence at the White House this weekend as he's working on these negotiations with Iran, John. Help people understand -- obviously, that's always a very secure area, as we've been talking about. But when the president is there, it's even more so.
MILLER: Well, that's right, the president is guarded by layers and layers of security. There's a team that's on the rooftop of the White House. Doesn't matter if it's raining. There are sensors that will pick up the sound of gunfire. There are Secret Service uniform teams, K-9 teams, bomb detection teams on the White House grounds.
And yet there are more of these marked automobiles that say United States Secret Service with uniformed Secret Service officers from the uniformed division who are very present and on patrol in that area. So that layered approach is one of the reasons that the first officers who were on the scene when this individual with the revolver, we are told, allegedly started shooting it not far from the White House.
DEAN: All right, John Miller, please stay with us as we continue to get more information.
I want to go back. Jonathan Wackrow, are you still with us as well?
WACKROW: I'm with you, yes.
DEAN: Okay. So we're now getting as John was laying out a little bit more information as he underscored. And I think it's important for us to repeat when these things happen, we get information, we bring it to you, it can change and evolve. But we do know now that two people were shot and wounded in this
encounter with Secret Service. Again, this is something, as you were noting that they trained for, that they have -- that you specifically took part in when you were actively in the Secret Service, that this is -- this is something that they do prepare for and are ready to jump in whenever they need.
Help people understand what we're looking at now and what we can expect in the coming hours.
WACKROW: Well, what you're looking at right now, what we've heard is that an incident command structure and an incident command post has already been set up as a Commissioner Miller had indicated earlier, the FBI will immediately join a criminal investigation. They will start working their investigation to see the criminality, the action, the individual. They will start running that path.
But it's important to note that the U.S. Secret Service will still remain. They will run a protective intelligence investigation in parallel with the FBI. Why? Because they need to understand this action from a threat perspective.
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They need to know, is this an individual act? Is this somebody who is working in conjunction with others where they inspired by some sort of ideology or some sort of grievance or animus towards the president or a member of the administration.
So, you're going to see those two elements go into place almost immediately. You will see the area, which is now a crime scene that will be cordoned off, and you'll see crime scene investigators looking tracing every shot that was -- that was fired, both from the suspect and from the Secret Service to basically recreate the conditions.
Again, we want to understand, you know, was this one individual, the second person that was shot, we don't know if they were part of the initial shooting or, as Commissioner Miller said, there's a high likelihood, especially in this highly densely populated area of Washington, D.C. remember, the White House is a key attraction in the area. Was this just a bystander that got caught up in either crossfire or a potential ricochet from these rounds that are going off?
So again, there's a lot that we don't know. But I think, you know, the reinforcing point here is that the emergent phase of this incident does seem to be passing. We're moving into this investigative phase. And from there, I am very sure that the Secret Service spokesperson and senior leadership will start giving additional information to the press so we can get, you know, some more insight on what actually happened here and what type of individual or threat are we talking about moving forward.
DEAN: Right. And as you note, look, that's a heavily trafficked tourist area there in Washington, D.C. And that is important to remember as well. Jonathan, in terms of when the Secret Service chooses to engage with
somebody, obviously, if they see a firearm, theyre engaging with that. But, but, but what does it normally take to engage the Secret Service in something like this?
WACKROW: Well, I mean, I think its really, really important that everyone understand the Secret Service acts the exact same as any law enforcement officer around the country is when they see an immediate threat, right? When they see a firearm or a suspect that could potentially kill or harm another individual immediately they escalate to the use of deadly force almost instantaneously because especially in this area, they you know you know, seconds matter, you know, this person could turn and, you know, point down the street, hit a massive tourist.
So, the Secret Service knows how critical those milliseconds are in responding. Now, ideally, and again, we do not know how the phased reaction was with this suspect, but ideally, Secret Service officers and agents are trained to, you know, give verbal commands. You want to be able to put this threat down as quickly as possible, but give verbal commands to drop the weapon.
But if they don't, they have the ability to. And, you know, we see here that, you know, escalate to the use of deadly force when it's warranted. Secret Service trains very, very carefully around the use of you know, escalated deadly force, especially when you have this high concentration of you know, potential bystanders. Every shot matters. And they know that in this area.
So they are very careful on how they engage. But the, the through line here is that when a threat presents itself and there is a risk of, you know, deadly harm or bodily injury to others in the area or the officers themselves, they will escalate to the use of escalate the use of force -- in the most extreme case, the use of deadly force.
DEAN: Yeah. Okay. Stay with us. I want to go back to Chief Charles Ramsey, who again, just reminding everyone, was also the chief of the D.C. police force. So has like Jonathan, very unique and specific experience in all of this.
Chief Ramsey, Jonathan was just talking about -- look, we don't know in terms of this second person. Was it a bystander? Was it not? But in terms of how touristy that area is, how many people are walking around in downtown, D.C. by the White House?
Obviously, that is something that I'm sure D.C. police think about. And as Jonathan was thinking about Secret Service as well, whenever they're going to engage with someone, they do have to consider that because of how trafficked that area is.
RAMSEY: Well, you do have to consider it. You know, there are a lot of things that happen in just a matter of seconds, as John said, milliseconds in some cases where officers have to really rely on their instincts to a great extent. But if this individual was armed, if the individual pointed the weapon, if they if he fired the weapon or whatever, then obviously that would justify the use of deadly force. But you're always concerned about the background. Fortunately, it
rained today, so that may have cut down on the crowd a bit, but 17th Street, 15th Street, 17th in particular, draw a lot of people that are in Washington, D.C., and they're here for the holiday.
Some are just -- you know, maybe residents or whatever, but it is a heavily populated area. I don't know how intense that was today, but that is something of consideration. But it is what it is. You have to deal with it. Those officers are specially trained. They're there every single day. They deal with situations where, yeah, you've got a lot of bystanders nearby.
And that's why, as John mentioned, you know, you do everything you can to deescalate, try to avoid using any type of force, but sometimes its unavoidable. We don't know exactly what happened. This could be a bystander, could be a second person that was with this individual. This information will start to come out as time moves on, I suspect we'll know something pretty soon around that.
DEAN: All right. Stay with us. I want to go back to John Miller.
John, again, people on this Saturday just tuning in, hearing that there were two people shot and wounded in this encounter with Secret Service agents near the White House, that that the lockdown has been lifted. Again, just bring us up to date with what we do know at this moment with that asterisk that you noted, this information is evolving in real time.
MILLER: Sure. So what we were told is an individual with a revolver usually that means a capacity of six shots was firing the weapon, not far from the White House around 17th Street. And that Secret Service uniform division officers who were on patrol very heavily in that area. They covered the perimeter of the White House, encountered this individual firing shots. Shots were fired by Secret Service agents. That individual and another person, we are told were wounded.
Now on the second person, we have no information as to whether that person was shot in the crossfire between the gunman and the responding officers, or whether that person was shot by the gunman intentionally. That is still unclear, but we know that at least two people were shot. One of them, the person with the revolver who encountered those officers, that is basically what we have.
Now, the FBI and the Secret Service are working at a command post at 17th and E, where they are putting together a perimeter to guard that crime scene. And what they're going to do is they're going to interview the officers if there are body cameras involved, they'll be able to review that. There is much video around the White House that is controlled by the Secret Service, some by the National Park Service, some by the commercial establishments that are there. They will download all of that video and try to piece together from those images exactly what occurred before they arrived. When they arrived, and after this incident was brought to what we believe is a close with two people wounded.
Important to note none of those wounded were law enforcement officers or Secret Service agents. It is the person who was wielding the gun and another individual that we really don't have a lot of information on.
That is roughly where we are right now.
DEAN: Okay. John Miller with the very latest. Stay with us.
We go back to Jonathan Wackrow now.
And, Jonathan, obviously John Miller laying out the details. We do know, including that one that he had mentioned previously about the revolver. And that this person was allegedly firing this weapon back to our conversation just a few minutes ago. That would obviously very much engage cause Secret Service to engage there.
Talk us through what you're kind of waiting to learn what you think is the key information. We still need to get on this. And, and when you think obviously theyre going to want to inform the public as soon as possible about this, how do you see this playing out?
WACKROW: Well, what I would like to know is exactly where was the shooter and what was the direction that the -- that the suspect was actually shooting in? Was he actually trying to focus on an individual? There are a lot of motorcades that pass in and around that area prior to getting onto the White House complex.
So, you know, you know, very similar to what we've seen in the past, these threats can actually present themselves and be directed towards a member of the administration, but not be on -- on the White House grounds. So was this potentially directed towards any incoming to the White House?
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You know, this side of the White House is, you know, the West Wing itself is blocked from this area by the executive office building. So, the location of where this shooting had occurred is very interesting to me. So, was this trying to just send a signal, trying to be disruptive? Or was it something that was very targeted towards, somebody or something inside the fence line?
So again, there's a lot that we don't know, but that's going to reveal again, from a protective intelligence standpoint, the, you know, sort of the level of criticality here in terms of this thing, this, this incident being really directed towards an individual, directed towards the president or not.
DEAN: Okay. Jonathan, thank you so much. John Miller, Chief Charles Ramsey, we appreciate all of you.
We're going to take a quick break. We will have more breaking news for you on the other side of that break.
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[19:30:32] DEAN: And welcome back to our breaking news coverage. You're looking at live pictures just outside the White House in Washington, D.C. where we know that two people have been shot and wounded in an encounter with Secret Service very close to the White House. So that street that you're looking at, 17th Street borders the White House there. Of course, President Trump is in town and is at the White House this evening as he continues negotiations with Iran on this potential deal to end the war.
We know that our reporters there who are outside where they do their live shots, where they come to you from the North Lawn there heard what they described as dozens of gunshots just a short time ago. And now we're being told by a law enforcement official that two people were shot and wounded in an encounter with Secret Service near The White House.
Our John Miller, reporting one person had what was described as a revolver and was shooting that, that that's when Secret Service first began to engage. We do have John Miller here with us, along with Chief Charles Ramsey and Juliette Kayyem.
John, I do want to go to you because you can get more into what reporting you have and really set the scene for everyone as we're looking live at Washington, D.C. right now.
MILLER: Well, we are told that an individual with a revolver was firing that revolver not far outside The White House fence, not far from The White House grounds. Secret Service Uniform Division responded to those shots fired incident, engaged the individual and multiple Secret Service Officers returned fire.
Now, there's a lot we don't know. We don't know why this person was shooting at or if the person was just shooting. We know a second individual was shot other than the person with the gun, but we don't know if that individual was shot in the crossfire accidentally or whether that individual was shot by the original gunman as a targeted person. That's where the picture is very much not clear.
What we do know is that when Secret Service encountered the individual with the gun, they opened fire and he was neutralized at that point suffering from gunshot wounds. Both of them, I believe, were removed to the hospital. You see a crime scene set up there and you see many of those, orange cones spread around where the shooting took place. That's an area that they blocked off to preserve that evidence, to leave everything where it was at the time the shooting ended.
Many of those orange cones likely are marking or covering up shell casings that were expended by the firing officers. And they have, I am told, custody of that weapon that the individual was firing.
So, at this point, the questions that are still in the air, aside from who was it that shot the second individual is what was the motive? Was there a motive? Did you have an individual firing a gun? Basically, wildly waiting for police to respond. That could be one scenario. Did you have an individual firing at The White House? That could be another scenario. Did you have an individual firing at someone else? That could be a third scenario.
Still not clear, but when you do put the context to this, you had The White House Correspondents' Association Dinner shooting. We all know about that, Cole Allen charging through the security checkpoint, confronted by Secret Service, he had a shotgun, a 38 semi-automatic pistol, a number of knives. He was trying to allegedly get to the President or anybody in the administration, one floor below at that dinner.
And then a few days later, you have, I believe it's about ten days later. You have an individual from Midland, Texas, who was spotted with a gun near The White House as the Vice President's motorcade was passing. Uniform Division confronted him. He opened fire, we are told that that individual, the gunman from Texas, was saying in the ambulance, according to the charging documents, "Kill me, kill me, kill me." And "Eff The White House." So, you know, you have, sounds like an unhinged person there.
If you go back to today's situation with an individual firing a gun numerous times, so we are told outside The White House, both of those incidents could have some similarity in that if he wasn't shooting at someone or at something, the entire incident could be another one of these incidents that appears to be what they refer to as suicide by cop. In other words, taking the kind of actions that will draw law enforcement and inevitably put them in a position where they have to use deadly physical force.
But again, these are all just the possibilities that are out there on the table. As the FBI develops their investigation on the criminal side, as the Secret Service develops, their protective intelligence information, who was this person? Why was he there? Where did he come from?
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They'll do everything from getting into computers to phones to everything else they can to figure out what brought that individual and that pistol to that location today and what caused this shooting.
DEAN: All right, John Miller, please stay with us because those were really helpful new details. And we do want to keep you quite close. I do want to go to Brian Todd, who is there live on the scene. Brian, what can you tell us from your vantage point?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, we're at the corner of 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest. I'm going to step to the side a second. This is only about a block from where the shooting occurred. I'm going to step to the side, and our photojournalist, Nick Leinbach is going to zoom past me and show you what we've been able to observe on the ground there.
Now, there's a combination of law enforcement agencies responding to the scene here. Youve got Uniformed Secret Service Police, and you've got D.C. Metropolitan Police right near where we are.
Now, when Nick goes down to that intersection there, that is the corner of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. That is where we believe the shooting occurred. There is kind of a clump of equipment and clothing, and we believe some surgical style gloves that are on the ground there that we've observed when Nick is able to really train his camera in tight on that scene.
You've got what could be maybe a defibrillator on the right-hand side of your shot there. We see some surgical gloves on the ground or what we think are surgical gloves. I mean, from this distance, that's what it appears to be. And some either bandages or maybe clothing that appear, maybe to have some blood on them there in the middle of the street.
Again, this is what we can observe from where we're standing and from what Nick is able to shoot here as far as just how close his camera is able to get there as far as how close his camera is able to get there. But you see, obviously, a very heavy law enforcement response there. And as is typical in in a situation like this, unfortunately, we've covered many of these types of incidents in the last few months down here near The White House, including that horrible shooting of the National Guardsmen a few blocks from here back in November.
When this kind of thing occurs, multiple streets are shut down around the perimeter of The White House and that has in fact, occurred this evening in getting here. I mean, luckily, I guess for the rest of us trying to get here and cover this, the traffic around downtown is not very heavy right now because it's bad weather. It's a Saturday evening and the traffic is not too bad.
So, you don't have gridlock down here, but you do have streets shut down. About a block, at least a block each way from The White House complex there. So, that's setting the scene for you.
And again, what we can tell you according to one law enforcement official telling CNN, two people were shot and wounded in an encounter with Secret Service Uniformed Division Police, right where you're looking right there, right at the corner of 17th Street, Northwest and Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest. Officers of the Secret Service Uniform Division responded to a report of shots fired. And as we've been reporting, several journalists were inside the White House complex and had to take cover there.
We believe in and around the White House press room, I did hear on my way here that the lockdown at the White House has since been lifted. So, that's what we can tell you at this time.
As far as we know, no one inside The White House complex has been injured. But you've got two people shot and wounded at the scene that you're looking at right there -- Jessica.
DEAN: All right, Brian Todd there live outside the White House for us. Thank you so much.
Let's go back to John Miller for a second, John, because as Brian was talking, I just wanted to underscore again, I think it's Saturday night. People are getting alerts. They're tuning in right now to get the very latest. And I just want to go back to one of the details you were sharing about potentially this person who had the revolver and what kind of their state of mind was at the time, what you had learned about kind of what unfolded. Can you walk people through that one more time?
MILLER: Well, were starting to get what may be a richer picture here, but what we are told is this is a 21-year-old individual. He has been identified to law enforcement, has not been identified by law enforcement.
[19:40:13]
So, were not going to be putting that identification out. But he was walking on 17th Street across the street. It appears he may have been crossing the street towards one of the security checkpoints when we are told and again, this is all preliminary information. I want to underline that. We're told he reached into a bag and we've seen a bag when we look at those crime scene photos a like a messenger bag.
He reached into a bag, pulled out the gun and opened fire in the direction of this security checkpoint staffed by Secret Service officers, who responded immediately and returned fire. And that is what we are given as an update as to what they are putting together based on interviewing the people, looking at the videos and so on.
So, that is a little more detail than we had before. And just the fact that he has now been identified by law enforcement, they know who he is. He's apparently 21-years-old.
DEAN: Okay, yes, and that is, you're right, a bit more detailed than we had obviously previously had. Okay, stand by, we will check back in with you.
I want to go back to Chief Charles Ramsey, who is standing by as well. Chief Ramsey, we're getting that new information that John Miller just laid out about kind of how this reportedly unfolded. Again, putting the star next to this, that this is just preliminary information.
We're also learning from our colleague, Evan Perez that one of the people shot is believed to have been a bystander. The second person is the suspect, believed to be the suspect in the incident. And then investigators say they have recovered a pistol they believe belonged to the suspect in all of this.
So, putting all of these pieces together now, how are you seeing this? What questions do you still have remaining?
RAMSEY: Well, I mean, at the very least now you have the assault on a federal officer if he's walking across the street, starts firing at the Secret Service Officers at the checkpoint. We don't know what his intent was yet, but they have identified him, at least tentatively.
That means now they're in a process of, you know, where does he live? Does he have a car? What's his social media footprint look like? If they can get any kind of, information from that cell phone, whatever to try to find out exactly more about this individual and what his motive might be, what his intent might be. So, they're making progress. They're making pretty good progress pretty quickly, it looks like and right now, the FBI and the Secret Service. I mean, listen, they're going to do whatever they have to do in order to really get to the bottom of it. But right now, it's in the investigative stage right now.
The threat has been reduced. We don't know the condition of this individual. So, we don't know if they've had a chance to speak with him. He may have had I.D. on him. There may be somebody who was there with him, who knew who he was and provided a name. There's still a lot of things we don't know, but it seems like it's starting to kind of zero in on this on this particular case.
DEAN: Yes, okay stand by. We also have Juliette Kayyem who is here with us.
Juliette, again, going back to this information, John Miller was just saying this appears to be a 21-year-old who has been identified to law enforcement, who was walking on 17th street, which is the street, I believe, yes that we are looking at right here. It's adjacent to The White House. If you cross that street, go to the left of where that yellow tape is. You would look at The White House just to give people a sense. And that he reached into a bag and allegedly opened fire toward Secret Service Officers, that that's when they returned the fire.
We also know again from our colleague Evan Perez that the two people shot, which he reports are that suspect and a bystander are the two people, that they are both in critical condition now, which Juliette is interesting if this suspect is alive, is in critical condition. Obviously, we don't know what exactly that means, but law enforcement ostensibly might be able to talk to that person at some point. But we are starting to get some more of these details.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. So, what, we don't know what condition he's in or when he'll be able to speak, and if he'd be willing to speak or seeks a lawyer at this stage. But obviously they know who he is. And so, just sort of unwinding it at this stage, sort of going backwards, who he is, where he lives what he's been saying, what his friends and family say, he's been saying. And then of course, his social media footprint, all of those should relatively quickly give us a sense of who in fact, he is.
Of course, there's also does he have a criminal record? Was he known to the FBI or Secret Service? So, I'm just putting this in the context of the totality of reporting that is reliable at this stage. You know, people want us to say something that seems obvious, so I'm going to just be careful here. But just given the totality of the facts, we know now this was a shooting towards The White House, towards federal law enforcement that was then stopped or deterred by federal law enforcement.
[19:45:43]
This is a person who did not plan on stopping the shooting and had to be shot to be stopped. We live in an environment of, of course, increased political violence. We live in an era where the President of the United States, there's been assassination attempts on him three times. We don't know exactly what this was, but this is his home. And it was public that it was his home. It also was public that this was a working weekend. Regarding the other big story of today, which is, of course, whether there is an agreement regarding the, the Iran War.
So, high officials are coming in and out and they are accessible on the streets of D.C. So, without specific motive, you would put the totality of the circumstances together to say this is another case of political violence, or at least violence directed towards an institution. And people in The White House and that's how the FBI will look at it and their right to do so, because of the environment that we live in right now.
DEAN: We do, yes and when you do put all of it together, that certainly, this is a scenario we have found ourselves in again and again in terms of, just the political violence. We've seen again, we don't know at this moment exactly what this is to your point. We have to wait and learn more. But we're just beginning to get some of these details.
Let's go back to John Miller now. John, we are getting this report too from Evan Perez, our colleague, that one of the people, that of the two people shot one was the suspect, the other a bystander. You've obviously spent a lot of time in D.C. as well. That can be a very busy area, as people have noted, it's raining today. It is a weekend. It is downtown D.C. so perhaps thankfully it wasn't that crowded, but nonetheless, if they were exchanging gunfire in that area, it makes sense that there could be bystanders around?
MILLER: Well, it does, and you know, these are things that, as Jonathan Wackrow told us some time ago, they happen in, you know, a split second. Decision time is within milliseconds and when an individual approaches, that facility firing a gun the Secret Service is going to fire back.
Now, we don't know who the bystander was struck by. We do know in the incident where the Secret Service confronted another individual who allegedly pulled a gun and opened fire at them, that they ended up shooting that suspect, but that that suspect shot a 16-year-old boy who was crossing the street in the leg.
So, my point is these bullets, when they're flying around, you know, the crowded areas of downtown Washington, D.C. are obviously very dangerous. We don't have the information about who the bystander was shot by, but the idea that there was a gun battle there and it didn't turn out worse, meaning that other people weren't shot, that Secret Service Agents weren't shot or wounded is actually probably pretty lucky.
I am told that the bystander who was shot was conscious and breathing at the time he was removed and taken to the hospital, not told what his condition was there.
DEAN: Yes, hopefully that means that person is going to be okay.
MILLER: Jessica --
DEAN: Go ahead, John, yes.
MILLER: -- let's take a look at this crime scene while we're here.
DEAN: Yes.
MILLER: So, what you're looking at is that security checkpoint, near the White House. What you see there is, U.S. Secret Service Police in their raid jackets. You see FBI officials behind them; they'll be investigating this jointly. You see a lot of these little orange cones here while you've got a crime scene photographer documenting that. So, you see the medical gloves, you see some of the medical stuff to the left of the screen that was used to treat the perpetrator and the bystander possibly on the scene.
But as you move to the right, you see what appears to be a kind of a messenger bag with the flap open. Now, each one of these shell casings, each one of these orange cones may actually mark the shell casings of the semiautomatic pistols that are carried by the Secret Service that may have been fired at the gunman.
The bag that's on the scene may be the bag that was described by law enforcement authorities that the gunman was crossing the street, reached into his bag and pulled out a revolver and opened fire. We don't know that but you do see this bag kind of prominently there, right by the scene. Which may or may not be that one, but you can see it's a very active crime scene as they've got it blocked off and are starting to document it.
[19:50:52]
DEAN: Yes, certainly, and to that point, we do have some new video we want to share with everybody, where I'm told you can hear some of the gunshots. So, let's play that video and John, we'll talk on the other side of it. Let's play this new video we have.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
DEAN: Okay, I do if we can in the control room, I'd like to play this video from the top again because you can hear the gunshots. They come really fast at the beginning. So, I'm going to give them a second to kind of rerack that and let you listen again. You see, this is the immediate aftermath as everyone's going inside. Okay, lets listen again. You'll hear the gunshots right at the beginning. Here's the top of that video.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
DEAN: And then it moves pretty quickly, John Miller, you're still with us. Obviously, that's just, that's jumping in when they first heard it. But you do hear multiple gunshots and then obviously you see the reaction of law enforcement and others who are standing nearby.
MILLER: Right, and it just gives us an idea through audio, as to how quickly this incident unfolded with an individual allegedly opening fire and then Secret Service returning that fire.
And you know, what people who were on the scene, our own reporters described as what sounded like dozens of shots. Now, that individual opened fire, if in fact, what he had was a revolver would probably have six rounds that he may have fired at police, if it was a revolver. If the Secret Service agents from the Uniform Division who manned that security post returned fire, if one or more of them fired, typically their guns would have, somewhere between 13 and 15 rounds, depending on the weapon and how it was loaded.
So, if two or more of them fired at once, it's not the kind of, it's not the kind of thing where you'd be able to choreograph it ahead of time and select a designated shooter. That would probably be what people describe as hearing dozens of rounds.
DEAN: Right, okay, John, stay with us. I want to go back to Chief Charles Ramsey, who's also with us, and Chief Ramsey, as we were talking about just a little bit ago, we're obviously looking at this new video. And we don't know at this moment what the motivation was of this suspect, only that as John Miller's reporting at this moment in time, it appears to be a 21-year-old person who has been identified to law enforcement, who was crossing the street and reached into a bag, opened fire toward Secret Service Officers.
But it bears reminding everyone this comes not that long after what happened on May 4th, not that long after what happened at The White House Correspondents' Dinner. There have been multiple assassination attempts against President Trump. We don't know the background here, but tell us about the posture of law enforcement in this moment. Just knowing that that is the history that his transpired in the last year.
RAMSEY: Well, I mean, it's very high, especially in Washington, D.C. but I would argue throughout the country. I mean, these are just dangerous times right now. And as far as law enforcement is concerned you have to really be on alert at all times. Now that never changes in Washington, D.C. but I would imagine that it's even a higher level of alert given the two incidents that were mentioned before.
And don't forget, in about two weeks, we've got the World Cup that will be here in the United States. And so, things have been ratcheting up in terms of intel in terms of preparedness, all these kinds of things --
[19:55:19]
DEAN: Can I, sir, I'm so sorry Chief Ramsey, I just, I'm sorry to interrupt you. We just have a statement from the Secret Service. Who has updated that the suspect has died according to the Secret Service. I'm just going to read this statement. They say, "Shortly after 6:00 P.M. Saturday, an individual approached a Secret Service checkpoint in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue northwest. A preliminary investigation indicates the individual approached. He removed a weapon from his bag and began firing at posted officers. Secret Service Officers returned fire, striking the suspect, who was transported to an area hospital where he later died." They also confirmed that a bystander was struck by gunfire. They say it remains unclear whether that bystander was struck by the suspect's initial gunfire or during the subsequent exchange. No injuries were sustained by Secret Service. The President was at The White House and was not impacted.
Again, this is coming from the White House press office and from the U.S. Secret service. Spokesperson. But again, the news here, adding to what we had already known is that this suspect has died. We are going to have more information for you on the other side of this break. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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