The man who was shot and wounded by a Secret Service officer near the White House Monday evening said he had a gun and ran toward the officer, officials say.
President Donald Trump was abruptly escorted out of a briefing room and the White House was locked down after the shot was fired.
Myron Berryman is the man who was shot, a law enforcement source close to the investigation said. He’s 51 and his last address was in Forestville, Maryland. He was still in a hospital Tuesday afternoon being treated for his injuries.
Berryman was charged with assaulting a police officer.
The Secret Service says an officer was standing at his post at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW at about 5:50 p.m. Monday when a man approached him and said he had a weapon. He said he had a gun, D.C.’s police department said in their report.
The man then ran toward the officer and “in a drawing motion, withdrew an object from his clothing,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
“He then crouched into a shooter’s stance as if about to fire a weapon,” they said.
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The officer fired his weapon and hit the man in the torso.
Police refused to answer questions at a press conference late Monday but later confirmed that Berryman was not armed with a gun.
Trump had just begun a televised coronavirus briefing when a Secret Service agent escorted him from the briefing room. The president returned minutes later, saying there had been a shooting outside the White House that was “under control.”
“There was an actual shooting and somebody’s been taken to the hospital,” Trump said.
Trump said the agent had escorted him to the Oval Office. The White House was placed on lockdown.
An investigation by D.C. police is underway and the Secret Service Office of Professional Responsibility will review the officer’s actions.
