A gunman was shot near the White House complex in Washington, the AP reported.
Deputy Director of the Secret Service Matt Quinn said he was spotted on Monday around 3:30 p.m. local time by plainclothes agents who saw him carrying a weapon. They briefly followed him and sought assistance from uniformed officers on duty. The man tried to flee when police agents approached him, firing at them, and the officers returned fire.
The unidentified shooter was taken to a hospital. His condition is not currently known. Emergency crews also transported a minor bystander to a hospital who was shot but not seriously injured. Matt Quinn said he could not say for sure whether he was shot by the suspect, but investigators believe so. "We'll let the doctors figure that out," he said.
The incident will be investigated by the Washington police.
The Secret Service urged people to avoid the area, where there was a heavy police presence. The White House was briefly locked down as the investigation continued. President Donald Trump was holding a small business event that was not interrupted.
It is not yet known whether the incident is related to Trump. "I'm not going to speculate on that," Quinn said. "Whether it was aimed at the president or not, I don't know, but we'll find out," he said.
In late April, a man opened fire at a Washington hotel during a dinner for White House journalists. Cole Allen, 31, was charged with attempted assassination of the president.