An unidentified man in army fatigues lies on a stretcher inside an ambulance November 26, 2025 in downtown Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | AFP | Getty Photographs
Two Nationwide Guard troopers have been shot on Wednesday close to the White Home in what officers described as a focused ambush, and the suspect was in custody after struggling gunshot wounds throughout the assault.
President Donald Trump was in Florida on the time of the assault, which prompted the White Home to enter lockdown as regulation enforcement from a number of federal and metropolis businesses swarmed the world.
The Guard troopers have been a part of a “high-visibility patrol” round 2:15 p.m. close to the nook of seventeenth and I streets, a number of blocks from the White Home, when the suspect got here round a nook and “ambushed” them, Metropolitan Police Assistant Chief Jeff Carroll stated at a press briefing.
After an trade of gunfire, different Guard members have been in a position to subdue the suspect, he stated. The 2 wounded troopers have been in vital situation at native hospitals, FBI Director Kash Patel stated.
“It is a focused assault,” Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser stated on the briefing.
West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey had initially stated in a put up on X that each victims have been members of his state’s Nationwide Guard and had died from their accidents. However he quickly posted a second assertion that cited “conflicting studies” about their situation.
The motive for the capturing was not instantly clear, however officers stated they consider the shooter acted alone. The identities of the suspect and the victims haven’t been made public.
Trump is at his resort in Palm Seaside forward of Thursday’s Thanksgiving vacation, whereas U.S. Vice President JD Vance is in Kentucky.
In a social media put up, Trump referred to as the suspected shooter an “animal” who would “pay a really steep worth” and praised the Nationwide Guard.
The capturing unfolded close to Farragut Sq., a preferred lunch spot for workplace employees only a few blocks away from the White Home. The park, the place mild posts are wrapped in wreaths and bows for the vacation season, is flanked by fast-casual eating places and a espresso store, in addition to two metro stops.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene after photographs have been fired with pedestrians fleeing.
Mike Ryan, 55, stated he was on his means to purchase lunch close by when he heard what seemed like gunfire. He ran half a block away and heard one other spherical of obvious gunfire.
When he made his means again to the scene, he noticed two Nationwide Guard members on the bottom throughout the road, with individuals attempting to resuscitate one among them. On the identical time, different Nationwide Guard members had pinned somebody on the bottom, Ryan stated.
One other witness, Emma McDonald, stated she noticed one of many Guard members carried away on a stretcher minutes after the capturing, his head lined in blood and an automatic compression system connected to his chest.
Nationwide Guard troopers have been in Washington since August, when Trump deployed them to the streets as a part of his contentious immigration and crime crackdown focusing on Democratic-led cities.
As of Wednesday, there have been about 2,200 Nationwide Guard troops in Washington, together with contingents from the District of Columbia in addition to Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama.
Trump, a Republican, has recommended repeatedly that crime has disappeared from the capital on account of the deployment, which was opposed by native officers and closely criticized by Democrats.
Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth instructed reporters that Trump had requested for 500 extra Guard troopers to be deployed to Washington within the wake of the capturing.
Nationwide Guard troopers stand behind the crime scene tape at a nook in downtown Washington, DC, on November 26, 2025.
Drew Angerer | AFP | Getty Photographs
