At least two members of the National Guard were killed Wednesday in a shooting outside the Farragut West subway station, one of the busiest in downtown Washington. Located at the intersection of 17th and I Streets, it is less than 500 meters from the White House.
The news of the shooting was confirmed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrissey confirmed the deaths of the two soldiers. They were members of the state National Guard and were deployed in the capital.
A suspect, also in critical condition, as revealed by US President Donald Trump, is in custody for these events, according to local police.
It was twenty minutes to 3:00 p.m. (local time) when the sound of sirens from dozens of police cars filled the streets of downtown Washington, D.C., usually quiet at that hour, on the eve of Thanksgiving. The Metropolitan Police Department confirmed the incident shortly afterward but did not immediately release further information.
Trump was not in the city at the time of the shooting. The US president traveled Tuesday night to his Mar-a-Lago residence in West Palm Beach, Florida, to spend the long Thanksgiving weekend there, which is celebrated this Thursday, November 4th, across the country.
“The animal who shot the two National Guardsmen, both seriously wounded and now in separate hospitals, is also seriously wounded, but, despite everything, will pay a very high price,” Trump wrote on his social media account, Truth. “God bless our Great National Guard and all of our Armed Forces and Law Enforcement. They are truly remarkable people. I, as President of the United States, and all those associated with the Office of the President, stand with you!”
The Vice President of the United States, in a press conference, asked that"anyone who considers themselves a person of faith pray for those two members of the National Guard."
The White House was immediately placed on high alert, and all entry and exit were suspended until further notice. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had been briefed on the “tragic situation.”
The area of the attack was immediately filled with officers from the various agencies that protect the city. There were already around a hundred of them shortly before 3:30 p.m., joined by dozens of journalists and a large number of onlookers. A helicopter was circling overhead.
Eiden, a 28-year-old American citizen, and his wife, Gala, a Spanish woman from Barcelona, were out shopping when the incident occurred. “They sounded like fireworks, and since it was a holiday, I didn't think it was anything. Then I realized it was. I was scared; it was like something out of a movie,” she said. Her husband stated, “I want to believe he was crazy and didn't mean to kill those guards. The opposite would be much more dangerous and destabilizing for the country.”
The National Guard has been deployed in the city since last August, by order of Trump, who sent the troops to combat crime, even though its numbers were declining, and also to contribute to the raids against immigrants.
The first contingent deployed in the capital consisted of 800 National Guard troops, later reinforced by contingents from six Republican-majority states, doubling that number. The Pentagon authorized them to carry weapons within the city.
