A still from video that federal prosecutors say shows Michael Marx running from U.S. Secret Service officers. (Department of Justice)
(WASHINGTON) — A 45-year-old Texas man has been charged in connection with a shooting near the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in which a teenage bystander was hit by gunfire, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Michael Marx faces three charges in connection with Monday’s shooting — felony assault of federal officers with a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and unlawful possession of a firearm, the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The complaint includes new images from CCTV showing the frantic scene during the shooting, which occurred at a busy intersection where multiple civilians were crossing the street Monday afternoon.
After a plainclothes Secret Service agent observed Marx in possession of a firearm, several uniformed Secret Service officers responded and located the suspect at 15th Street and Independence Avenue SW, at the time Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade was departing the White House, according to the complaint.
Officers gave “verbal commands” to the suspect, who began to run, according to the complaint. As officers chased him, the suspect pulled a firearm from his waistband while running and began firing toward one of them once he reached the sidewalk, according to the complaint. A bystander behind the officer was struck in the leg, it said.
Officers returned fire, striking Marx in his hand, left arm and upper abdomen and collapsed at the intersection, according to the complaint.
Investigators recovered a handgun loaded with 9mm ammunition from the area where Marx fell, according to federal prosecutors. He does not hold a license to carry a handgun in Washington, they said.
As U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro first told ABC News on Tuesday, Marx allegedly made statements to officers, including “F— the White House” and “Kill me, kill me, kill me,” while being transported in an ambulance to a hospital.
“We will prove this defendant carried an illegal firearm into the heart of Washington, D.C., opened fire at Secret Service officers near a crowded intersection, and shot an innocent bystander who was simply crossing the street with his family,” Pirro said in a statement Wednesday. “My office will pursue the most serious charges available against anyone who brings gun violence to our streets, particularly when that violence unfolds steps from the seat of our government and the path of the Vice President of the United States.”
Court records do not list any attorney information for Marx at this time.
The teen injured in the shooting has since been released from the hospital, Pirro told ABC News.
Construction work continues on President Trump’s White House Ballroom on the site of the former East Wing of the White House, seen from the Washington Monument on March 8, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday defended the cost increase of his massive White House ballroom construction project, the price tag of which has jumped from $200 million to nearly $400 million.
“The only reason the cost has changed is because, after deep rooted studies, it is approximately twice the size, and a far higher quality, than the original proposal, which would not have been adequate to handle the necessary events, meetings, and even future Inaugurations,” Trump wrote in a post to his social media platform.
“The original price was 200 Million Dollars, the double sized, highest quality completed project will be something less than 400 Million Dollars. It will be magnificent, safe, and secure!” the president added.
Trump’s defense comes after his relentless criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s oversight of a multi-billion-dollar renovation of the central bank’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. The cost of the Fed renovation increased, which the central bank said was due to rising costs of labor and material as well as unforeseen damage to the property.
The White House previously said it aimed to raise the $400 million through private donations, and Trump himself repeatedly promised no taxpayer money would be used to build the ballroom.
“So we did this, no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever,” Trump said about the ballroom in February. “This was all donations made by friends of mine and people that are — that love our country.”
But now, Republicans in Congress are proposing $1 billion for security-related aspects of the construction project.
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans said that they are aiming to secure $1 billion in funding for the Secret Service for security-related aspects of the East Wing renovation, including the ballroom project, as part of a broader funding package for immigration enforcement.
Trump’s social media post on Wednesday defending the higher costs made no mention of the proposed $1 billion infusion from Congress.
It’s unclear exactly how the Secret Service would spend the money — and the public may never know given that much of the agency’s spending related to White House security is classified.
But in federal court and in the president’s own social media posts, the administration has offered some examples of the security features that Trump has in mind.
In a filing in the ballroom lawsuit last month, the Justice Department said the protective enhancements to the East Wing project would include “missile resistant steel columns, Military-grade venting, drone-proof ceilings and bullet, ballistic, and blast proof glass,” all aimed at forming a “fortified structural buffer” on the east side of the complex that would gird not only the ballroom, but also the main White House residence and the offices in the West Wing.
That April 27 filing also said the upgrades would include “bomb shelters, a state of the art hospital and medical facilities, Top Secret military installations, structures, and equipment, protective partitioning, and other features.”
Welcoming the proposed help from Republican lawmakers, a White House spokesman said on Monday that they “rightly recognized the need for these funds.”
Several Democrats criticized the Republican plan to allocate $1 billion toward the project.
“Donald Trump promised that ZERO taxpayer dollars will be used for his ballroom. He lied,” House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat, wrote on X.
Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called it a “vanity project.”
“While Americans are struggling to make ends meet as a result of President Trump’s failed policies, Republicans are focused on providing tens of billions of dollars for the President’s vanity ballroom project and cruel mass deportation campaign,” Durbin said in a statement. “Republicans are in danger of losing control of Congress in November, so they are going outside the usual bipartisan appropriations process to fund these unpopular policies through the end of the Trump Administration.”
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
E. Jean Carroll arrives for her civil defamation trial against President Donald Trump at Manhattan Federal Court on January 22, 2024 in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday asked a federal appeals court in New York to pause its ruling rejecting his challenge to the writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit so he can pursue an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A jury awarded Carroll $83 million in damages in 2024 after she successfully argued that Trump defamed her with comments he made disputing her claim that he sexually abused her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the 1990s.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined last week to re-hear Trump’s claim of immunity and his attempt to substitute the United States as a defendant in Carroll’s case.
Trump on Wednesday asked the 2nd Circuit to stay its ruling in order to allow him “to present important questions relating to, without limitation, Presidential immunity and the Westfall Act to the Supreme Court.”
If the stay is not granted, Trump’s attorneys said he would suffer irreparable harm.
The jury in 2024 found that, as a result of Trump’s comments, Carroll was harassed and humiliated, subjected to death threats, and feared for her physical safety for years. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
A separate jury in an earlier trial awarded Carroll $5 million in damages after holding Trump liable for defamation and sexual abuse.
Turner Enterprises CEO Ted Turner address the Newsmaker Luncheon on renewable and alternative energy at the National Press Club April 19, 2011 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ted Turner, the television and media mogul who launched CNN — the first 24-hour cable news network — and a roster of successful TV and entertainment brands, died on Wednesday, according to the network. He was 87.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” according to a statement from Mark Thompson, the chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and our world.”
Turner announced in 2018 he was suffering from Lewy body dementia.
Born in Cincinnati, Robert Edward Turner III was raised in Savannah, Georgia. He attended Brown University briefly before leaving the university and joining the U.S. Coastal Guard Reserve during the Vietnam War.
Turner began his career as an executive at his father’s advertising business, Turner Advertising Company. Following the death of his father, he became president and chief executive of the company and turned the firm into a global enterprise.
He entered the television business in the early 1970s when he acquired an Atlanta UHF station, WJRJ, and renamed it WTCG. The station originated the “superstation” concept, transmitting via satellite to cable systems across the country. Later renamed TBS, the station became a precedent for the modern basic cable station.
On June 1, 1980, Turner Broadcasting System launched CNN, the first 24-hour cable news network. In his launch speech at the network’s Atlanta headquarters in June 1980, he expressed hope that CNN’s national and international coverage would “bring together in brotherhood and kindness and friendship and in peace the people of this nation and this world.”
CNN quickly made its mark covering major news events such as the 1982 Lebanon War and the 1986 Challenger explosion as they happened.
A chain of successful cable television brands followed for Turner, including CNN International, Cartoon Network, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. Turner Broadcasting later acquired the film studios Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema.
Turner’s company also expanded into sports starting in the late 1970s, acquiring Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves and the National Basketball Association’s Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks won three division titles under the company’s ownership. The Braves won the 1995 World Series.
In 1988, Turner ventured into the professional wrestling business, purchasing Jim Crockett Promotions and renaming it as World Championship Wrestling (WCW). The company served as the main competitor to Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation (WWF) over the next decade. WCW was purchased by McMahon’s company in 2001.
In October 1996, Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner Inc., and in 2001, Time Warner merged with AOL to create AOL Time Warner.
Turner also made his mark as a philanthropist. In 1990, he founded Turner Foundation which supports efforts for improving air and water quality, developing initiatives to protect the climate and maintaining wildlife habitat protection, among other initiatives. The Turner Foundation says it has given more than $380 million to hundreds of organizations since its founding.
In 1997, Turner announced a historic pledge of up to $1 billion to the United Nations and the following year, he created the United Nations Foundation (UNF). The organization supports the goals and objectives of the United Nations to promote “a more peaceful, prosperous and just world.”
Speaking to ABC News’ “This Week” in 2012, he described his interest in supporting U.N. efforts.
“Everybody needs help sometime, no matter how rich and powerful you are,” he said. “I did not know for sure when I started that it was going to work…there were a lot of things that weren’t getting done, that are getting done now, done a lot more quickly.”
He added, “Saving the world is a hard job.”
Turner also launched the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a think tank he co-chaired with former Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia that seeks to reduce “nuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity.”
He was the recipient of numerous awards, including Time Magazine’s 1991 “Man of the Year,” the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Lifetime Achievement Award, the Audubon Medal from the Audubon Society, and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Lifetime Achievement in Communication. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
Turner was married three times, including to actress Jane Fonda from 1991 to 2001. He is survived by five children.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Customers pump gas into their car at a 76 station, May 4, 2026 in Los Angeles (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Sky-high gasoline prices are hammering drivers across the United States as the Iran war chokes off global oil supply. California, however, may be feeling the sting more than anywhere else.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in California clocks in at $6.13, standing 36% higher than the national average, AAA data showed. Some elected officials in the state have warned of a potential oil and gas shortage that could push prices up even further.
Siva Gunda, the vice chairman of the California Energy Commission, on Tuesday said at a hearing of the state assembly that California retains enough gasoline to satiate demand over the coming weeks.
“I do not see presently — at least up to six weeks — a supply shortfall,” Gunda said. “Beyond that, based on what we’re hearing from the industry and what we’ve observed, the pricing will move molecules to California, but it will come at a price.”
David Alvarez, a Democratic California state assembly member who represents Southern San Diego, warned of the potential impact on consumers.
“For six weeks, at least, there seems to be some certainty. But almost as certain is if this situation continues after six weeks, we would likely see some price increases,” Alvarez said.
Fuel prices in California typically run higher than other states, even in the best of times. That usual price disparity stems from regulations and taxes imposed in the Golden State, among other factors.
The Iran war has exacerbated the price pressure, exposing California’s dependence in large part on foreign imports, some analysts said. A shutdown of some key oil refineries in recent months worsened California’s vulnerability, slashing the state’s gasoline output in the absence of alternative fuel sources.
Still, the drop-off in gas supply is unlikely to produce a shortage of product at local gas stations, since an ongoing surge in prices should deter some buyers, analysts said. Under such a scenario, known as “demand destruction,” high prices make gas unaffordable for some drivers, forcing them to forgo gasoline use altogether.
“A shortage within the continental U.S. would take a really extreme situation, since prices respond to supply and demand,” Susan Bell, a senior vice president at the consulting firm Rystad Energy, told ABC News.
The Middle East conflict, which began on Feb. 28, prompted Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of the worldwide supply of oil. As a result, global oil prices have soared more than 50%.
The vast majority of oil that passes through the strait is bound for Asian markets, but some of it reaches the United States, including California. That dependence has worsened a widely felt problem: since oil prices are set on a global market, prices have climbed for just about everyone as buyers chase fewer barrels of crude.
California imports about three-quarters of its oil from foreign nations and Alaska, California Energy Commission (CEC) data shows. Roughly 30% of the state’s oil comes from the Middle East, especially Iraq and Saudi Arabia, according to the agency.
“California is challenged buying crude oil because they did buy from the Middle East,” Bell said.
The oil bottleneck has driven up the price of crude, straining the state’s supply chain. But the shortfall of gasoline in the state owes primarily to a decline in the availability of refined products, some analysts said.
California ships in a portion of its auto fuel from Asia, but those imports have been disrupted by the war, they added.
The shutdown of two major oil refineries in recent months has diminished the state’s ability to make up for the lost gasoline with in-state production, they added. A longstanding absence of adequate pipeline infrastructure connected to other states, meanwhile, has prevented California from turning to domestic supply.
Gasoline inventory in the state averaged 9.55 million barrels over the four weeks ending on April 24, CEC data shows. That figure puts inventories near the lowest level on record dating back to 2005, according to a Reuters analysis. That total stock includes non-California gasoline, blending components and California’s gasoline blend.
“California has designed an energy island in terms of the products we actually use. We’re not connected to the rest of the U.S. as efficiently as many other states are,” Paasha Mahdavi, a professor of energy governance and political economy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, told ABC News.
As a result, Mahdavi added: “There’s a crunch hitting gas stations.”
Despite the supply squeeze, California is unlikely to suffer from long lines at gasoline stations or customers leaving with empty tanks, some analysts said.
Rather, the price of gasoline will continue to move up, reaching such heights that some buyers will turn to alternatives or simply go without fuel, Severin Borenstein, a professor of Business Administration and Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News.
If public officials were to put a price cap on gasoline, then customers would likely flock to the pump and empty inventories, Borenstein added. As prices surge, however, customers will fall out of the market instead.
“We don’t have any gas lines because we don’t regulate the price of gas,” Borsenstein told ABC News. “As much as people hate high gas prices, they hate gas lines even more.”
Damaged cars lie on road after Russian missile attack on May 4, 2026 in Merefa, Ukraine. Russian army fired an Iskander missile with a high-explosive warhead on a road near shops. (Photo by Liubov Yemets/Gwara Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least one person was killed and two people were injured by an overnight Russian drone strike on a kindergarten building in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, local officials there said on Wednesday, as Moscow’s cross-border attacks continued despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s unilateral declaration of a temporary ceasefire beginning at midnight on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 108 drones and three missiles into the country overnight, of which 89 drones were intercepted or suppressed. The missiles and nine drones impacted across eight locations, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed to have downed at least 53 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry did not specify whether any Ukrainian drones were intercepted after the unilateral Ukrainian ceasefire came into effect at midnight on Tuesday.
Sumy was among several targets of Russia’s overnight strikes. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said in posts to Telegram that at least four people were killed and 19 people injured by Russian strikes in the southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, which damaged infrastructure plus administrative and residential buildings.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the ministry said, two women were injured by a drone strike on a house in the southwest of the city which also sparked a fire.
Ukraine’s State Emergency Service also reported a Russian drone attack on an apartment building in the southern city of Kherson.
Tuesday night’s attacks followed a major Russian missile and drone attack on several Ukrainian cities earlier in the day, in which officials said at least 28 people were killed.
Zelenskyy issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what he described as Russia’s “brutal attacks” and Moscow’s refusal to partake in the Kyiv-proposed 24-hour ceasefire.
“On all key frontline areas, assault operations are ongoing, and just since the beginning of today, the Russian army has carried out nearly 30 assault operations. More than 20 airstrikes involving over 70 aerial bombs were recorded just last night and this morning,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“During the night, the Russian army also launched attacks with various types of drones,” the Ukrainian president added.
“Ukraine has clearly stated that it will respond in kind, given the persistent Russian appeals through the media and social networks to maintain silence during the Moscow parade,” Zelenskyy wrote, referring to the planned “Victory Day” celebrations in the Russian capital planned for May 9.
Russian President Vladimir Putin this week announced a unilateral truce on May 8 and May 9. Zelenskyy then said Ukraine would mark its own 24-hour ceasefire beginning at midnight on May 5.
“Russia must end its current war. Even with the internet shut down and most Russians’ communications blocked, it’s absolutely clear that their leadership could emerge from the bunker and choose peace,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Our diplomatic proposals are on the Russian side, and the only thing needed is Russia’s willingness to move towards real peace.”
“As of today, we note that the Russian side has disrupted the ceasefire. Based on the results of our military and intelligence evening reports, we will determine our further actions,” he added.
A hantavirus is a virus found in the urine, saliva or excrement of deer mice and certain other infected wild rodents (Icy Macload/Getty Images)
(LONDON and BELGRADE, Serbia) — Three people have been evacuated off of the MV Hondius, a cruise ship with a suspected hantavirus cluster, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
WHO officials in Cape Verde told ABC News that the patients were to be transferred to ambulances waiting on the shore to receive them. The three were then to be taken to an airport, where they were expected to board a special medevac flight to the Netherlands.
“WHO continues to work with the ship’s operators to closely monitor the health of passengers and crew, working with countries to support appropriate medical follow-up and evacuation where needed,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, said on social media, where he confirmed the evacuations.
“Monitoring and follow-up for passengers on board and for those who have already disembarked has been initiated in collaboration with the ship’s operators and national health authorities,” he added.
He said that “the overall public health risk remains low.”
The WHO said on Wednesday that eight suspected cases of hantavirus were recorded among passengers on the ship, an increase from the seven reported on Tuesday. Three of the cases had been confirmed by lab testing, WHO said.
“Swiss authorities have confirmed a case of hantavirus identified in a passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship,” the WHO said on social media on Wednesday. “He had responded to an email from the ship’s operator informing the passengers of the health event, and presented himself to a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and is receiving care.”
There have been three deaths among the reported cases, including a married couple from the Netherlands, one of whom was confirmed to have been infected with hantavirus, authorities said.
Cape Verde officials said on Tuesday that the vessel was expected to sail to the Spanish island of Tenerife, where Spanish health authorities were to take over further investigations, including lab testing and clinical assessments, particularly for older passengers.
The leader of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago off the northwestern coast of Africa, said on Wednesday that the regional government was opposed to allowing the luxury cruise ship to dock at Tenerife.
“This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety,” Fernando Clavijo, the president of the Canary Islands told radio station COPE, according to Reuters.
Clavijo said on social media that he had requested a meeting with the Spanish prime minister to discuss the ship. He added that the Canary Islands “always acts with responsibility, but it cannot accept decisions taken behind the backs of the Canary Islands institutions and without sufficient information to the population.”
WHO officials earlier on Wednesday said the three evacuated people were to be transferred to planes bound for both the Netherlands and Tenerife, but later updated the plan so that all would be sent to the Netherlands, officials told ABC News.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick attends an event on advancing health care affordability in the Oval Office of the White House on April 23, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is set to testify behind closed doors on Wednesday about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, making him the first Trump Cabinet official to face questions as part of the House Oversight Committee investigation.
Lutnick agreed to the voluntary transcribed interview after months of criticism over his relationship with Epstein — who was once Lutnick’s neighbor — and past statements distancing himself from the notorious sex offender.
During an interview last year with The New York Post, Lutnick described Epstein as “gross” and claimed that he said in 2005 he would “never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again” after touring Epstein’s New York City mansion.
However, documents released by the Department of Justice showed that Lutnick planned a visit to Epstein’s private island in 2012 — years after Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related charges in 2008.
“We are looking forward to visiting you,” Lutnick’s wife emailed Epstein’s assistant. “We would love to join you for lunch.”
When asked about the documents in February, Lutnick acknowledged he visited the island and said that he did not see anything inappropriate during his visit.
“I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation. My wife was with me, as were my four children and nannies,” Lutnick testified on Capitol Hill in February.
While the DOJ’s Epstein files included a photo from that trip, the Department of Justice acknowledged they temporarily removed the photo before restoring it following backlash. A DOJ official claimed that the photo was temporarily removed with a “batch of files that were flagged for nudity,” though the photo did not contain any nudity and did not include any redactions when it was restored.
Lutnick also appeared to enter a business deal with Epstein in 2012, according to documents released by the Department of Justice. Both men signed business documents in 2012 to acquire an advertising company called Adfin.
Other documents released by the DOJ showed Epstein agreed to donate $50,000 in 2017 related to a dinner hosted in Lutnick’s honor.
During his New York Post interview last year, Lutnick said he believed that Epstein may have used blackmail to get the “sweetheart deal” he received during his first criminal case in 2008.
“I assume, way back when, they traded those videos in exchange for him getting that 18-month sentence, which allowed him to have visits and be out of jail. I mean, he’s a serial sex offender. How could he get 18 months and be able to go to his office during the day and have visitors and stuff? There must have been a trade,” Lutnick said.
But those allegations contrast with statements from multiple Trump administration officials who have insisted that Epstein neither trafficked young women for people beyond himself nor held compromising information about high-profile individuals,
“There is no credible information. None. If there were, I would bring the case yesterday that he trafficked to other individuals,” FBI Director Kash Patel said last year.
When asked about Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein in February, President Trump described Lutnick as a “very innocent guy” and suggested he would be willing to testify.
“Well, Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say,” Trump said. “He’s a very innocent guy, doing a good job.”
(WASHINGTON) — Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury on four counts — three of which he had already been charged by criminal complaint.
Those initial charges he was indicted on are attempting to assassinate the president, transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. The fourth new charge is assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, according to the indictment.
The California native was tackled by law enforcement after the gunfire April 25 inside the Washington, D.C., Hilton hotel, where thousands of journalists, as well as President Donald Trump and members of his Cabinet, were gathered for the annual dinner.
Allen did not reach the ballroom, where the dinner was underway. A Secret Service member was shot during the incident, but the bullet hit the agent’s protective vest, officials said.
Allen — who officials say traveled by train from California to D.C. — allegedly left a note which said that administration officials were his targets and were “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” according to the criminal complaint against him.
The suspect allegedly wrote that Secret Service agents were targets “only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible,” the complaint said.
Allen has not yet entered a plea.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Police officials inspect the crime scene following an exchange of gunfire by the U.S. Secret Service and a gunman on the National Mall on May 4, 2026, in Washington, DC. Police say a gunman shot at a Secret Service agent and wounded a bystander before being shot by police. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Secret Service officers exchanged gunfire with an armed man near the White House property in Washington, D.C., on Monday, authorities said.
The suspect and a juvenile bystander were struck during the exchange of gunfire, according to the U.S. Secret Service.
The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old Michael Marx, according to multiple law enforcement sources. He has a Texas driver’s license and no obvious connection to Washington, and authorities are working to learn why he was in the city, sources said Tuesday.
Authorities are executing search warrants on his phone, digital media and other locations to try and determine if he posed any threat to specific individuals or entities, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, sources said.
The shooting occurred around 3:30 p.m. Monday near the National Mall, outside the perimeter of the White House complex, according to U.S. Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn.
A plainclothes Secret Service officer observed a “suspicious individual that appeared to have a firearm,” Quinn said during a press briefing.
Uniformed Secret Service police briefly followed the suspect and, upon making contact, he fled on foot and fired in the direction of the officers, Quinn said.
The officers returned fire, striking the suspect, Quinn said. The suspect was transported to a hospital, according to Quinn.
Marx was struck multiple times and remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition, sources said.
At least one bystander, a male juvenile, is believed to have been shot by the suspect and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, according to Quinn. The victim is also being treated at a hospital, he said.
“Everything I’ve seen leads me to believe, and the investigators believe, he was struck by the suspect,” Quinn said.
Marx has not yet been charged.
The shooting comes over a week after an alleged assassination attempt on Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“Whether or not it was directed to the president or not, I don’t know, but we will find out,” Quinn said.
Not long before the shooting occurred, Vance’s motorcade passed through the area, Quinn said. The suspect did not approach the motorcade, according to Quinn.
The use-of-force investigation will be conducted by the Metropolitan Police Department, Quinn said.
The incident prompted a brief evacuation of the White House North Lawn.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Luke Barr and Jack Date contributed to this report.
