The suspect who shot at the White House is suspected to have claimed to be Jesus Christ a few months after he was killed when the Secret Service broke out.
CNN identified the suspect as 21 years old Nasire Bestwho reports having a series of documented mental health problems. Best is alleged to have been arrested when he claimed to be “Jesus Christ” and voluntarily committed himself to a mental hospital at one point for blocking a car near the White House in July 2025.
“I am actually the son of God,” he allegedly wrote on other social media.
The newspaper reported that Best previously threatened the life of the President Donald Trump and is alleged to have had several encounters with police near the White House in the past.
The 2025 affidavit indicated that Best was “known by the Secret Service” to “walk around the White House complex asking how to get into various entrances,” per CNN.
Us Weekly contacted the Secret Service for comment.
Gunfire erupted near a Secret Service checkpoint outside the White House around 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, with a bystander hit and taken to the hospital in critical condition. No Secret Service members were injured in the incident.
“Just after six o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday, someone in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue took a weapon out of a bag and started shooting,” said the Communications Manager. Anthony Guglielmi he told Us on Saturday. “The Secret Service officers returned fire, hitting the suspect who was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. During the shooting, another bystander was also shot.”
Emergency and police vehicles are seen near the White House after the shooting.
Getty Images/Alex WROBLEWSKI/AFPHis statement continued, “No injuries were reported by officials. The President was in the White House at the time of the incident, however no security guards or operations were affected. The incident is still under investigation and more information will be released as it becomes available.”
Many reporters were on the grounds of the White House when the shots rang out. They were taken from the media center in Pebble Beach to the briefing room at the White House and ordered to shelter in place for about 40 minutes.
“I was in the middle of recording my iPhone social media video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the gunshot,” an ABC News White House reporter said. Selina Wang tweeted at the time. “It sounded like a lot of gunfire. We were told to run to the press conference room where they are holding us now.”
Psychologist Oz Pearlman was performing for President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and press secretary Caroline Leavitt at the White House Correspondents' Sanner dinner on Saturday, April 24, when he noticed something was wrong. “I was playing the president at the time, the press secretary and the first lady,” the magician said during the meeting […]
This latest shooting incident in Washington DC occurred less than one month after gunshots rang out in the lobby of the Washington Hilton at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, as President Trump, the first lady. Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance they were there. Trump and other officials were evacuated from the Hilton as the violence continued.
A Secret Service agent was hit by his protective vest and hospitalized. The shooting suspect Cole Thomas Allen he was arrested and later charged with attempted assassination of the president, interstate transportation of weapons and discharging a firearm during a violent crime, which he pleaded not guilty to earlier this month.
