A Secret Service officer shot a man near a security checkpoint outside the White House complex Friday after the suspect brandished a gun.
The man “approached an outer perimeter checkpoint accessible to the general public on E Street” at 3:06 p.m., according to Secret Service deputy assistant director David Iacovetti, who said uniformed Secret Service officers “gave numerous verbal commands for the subject to stop and drop the firearm.”
“When the subject failed to comply with the verbal commands, he was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody. The Secret Service recovered a firearm at the scene,” Mr. Iacovetti said.
President Obama was not at the White House at the time; he left the complex shortly after 1 p.m. to play golf at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland. Vice President Joseph R. Biden was secured in the White House complex during the incident, his office said.
Officers provided emergency first aid to the suspect before was rushed to a George Washington Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition. The shooting occurred near 17th and E Streets on the perimeter of the White House compound, near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, in plain view of tourists and other pedestrians.
Brett Polivka, a 26-year-old visitor from Texas who was near the south side of the White House, told Reuters that he saw a man who appeared to be in his mid-20s walk to a gate of the White House holding a silver-colored gun pointed at the ground.
“A couple officers drew their guns, went right at him and within two or three seconds we heard a gunshot,” Mr. Polivka said.
Law-enforcement sources told NBC News that they believe the suspect’s motive was “suicide by cop” — behaving in a threatening manner to force police to shoot him.
Initial reports identified the man as Jesse Olivieri, a resident of central Pennsylvania. Officers could be seen searching a car with Pennsylvania tags within a few blocks of the White House late Friday afternoon.
The White House was placed on security lockdown, with no one allowed to enter or leave. The lockdown was lifted around 4 p.m.
After the shooting, snipers could be seen on the White House roof with guns drawn, as authorities cleared people off the streets around the complex.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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