Trump press conference interrupted after shots fired outside White House

Armed Secret Service police were seen patrolling the grounds of the presidential residence on Monday afternoon, as puzzled reporters were ordered to leave the briefing room. Multiple outlets reported two “loud pops” outside the White House.

"It was a shooting outside the White House," Trump said after the press conference resumed, thanking the Secret Service for its quick reaction.

“Do I seem rattled?” the president said, after he was asked if he had been rattled by the experience. The Secret Service took him to the nearby Oval Office for several minutes, until the perimeter was secured, Trump explained.

According to multiple reporters, the incident took place on 17th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue, near the Old Executive Office Building. Trump said that law enforcement shot a suspect.

The Secret Service later said that one of their agents and one suspect were taken to the hospital. Though their condition remains unknown, the Service noted that “at no time during this incident was the White House complex breached or were any protectees in danger.”

The incident "might not have had anything to do with me," Trump told reporters. There has been a spike in gun violence in the US capital in recent months, following the anti-police protests triggered by the death of George Floyd, an African-American man, in police custody in Minnesota.