Trump returned to the media room several minutes later on Monday afternoon and said a person had been shot by law enforcement and taken to the hospital.

He said he understood the suspect had been armed.

“It was a shooting outside of the White House,” Trump said. “It seems to be very well under control. … But there was an actual shooting, and somebody has been taken to the hospital. I don’t know the condition of the person.”

He said the shooting was near the fence at the edge of the White House grounds.

The Secret Service said in a tweet “the investigation into a USSS officer involved shooting is ongoing. A male subject and a USSS officer were both transported to a local hospital. At no time during this incident was the White House complex breached or were any protectees in danger.”

The doors to the White House briefing room were locked shortly before Trump was escorted out.

Nobody else was wounded in the shooting, Trump said. He praised the Secret Service response and said the agency would have more details on the event later.

“There were no details – we just found out just now,” Trump told reporters.

The president had been speaking about the stock market when a Secret Service agent interrupted him at the podium only minutes into the briefing.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought were also taken out of the room.

Trump told reporters he had been taken to the Oval Office, which is in the West Wing near the briefing room, after he was escorted out.

-AAP

Want to comment?

Send us an email, making it clear which story you’re commenting on and including your full name (required for publication) and phone number (only for verification purposes). Please put “Reader views” in the subject.

We’ll publish the best comments in a regular “Reader Views” post. Your comments can be brief, or we can accept up to 350 words, or thereabouts.