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Secret Service shoots armed man near White House

March 10, 2025 | | Print Article

An out-of-state tip preempted an “armed confrontation” early Sunday morning where the U.S. Secret Service opened fire on a man near the White House.

Shortly after midnight Sunday, near the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House, Secret Service agents located a vehicle belonging to an individual they had been warned could be “suicidal.”

Spotting a man matching the description of someone said to have traveled from Indiana as he headed toward Pennsylvania Avenue, agents approached and found him non-compliant when ordered to drop his weapons, leading them to open fire.

In a statement from Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Michael Buck, the protective agency detailed, “Earlier on Saturday, local police shared information about a suicidal individual who may be traveling to Washington DC from Indiana. Around midnight, members of the Secret Service encountered the individual’s parked vehicle near 17th and F Streets, NW. They also saw an individual on foot matching the description nearby.”

“As officers approached, the individual brandished a firearm, and an armed confrontation ensued, during which shots were fired by our personnel. The suspect was transported to an area hospital, and his condition is unknown,” noted Buck. “There were no reported injuries to Secret Service personnel.”

According to a report from Fox News, the suspect was identified as 27-year-old Andrew Dawson of Indiana, who allegedly had a firearm and knife on his person at the time of the incident and had “reached toward his waist” when instructed to drop his weapons.

In addition to a number of incidents outside the White House during then-President Joe Biden’s administration, President Donald Trump, who was not on-site at the time but rather at his Palm Beach, Florida, residence, famously responded to a shooting incident during his first term.

The president had been speaking with reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room when an attempted shooting outside the White House gave cause for the Secret Service to escort him to safety in August 2020.

When he returned to the podium within minutes, a reporter asked, “Are you rattled by this at all, Mr. President?”

In response, Trump stated with nonchalance, “Do I seem rattled? It’s unfortunate. But the world has always been a dangerous place.”

Nearly four years later, a would-be assassin opened fire on the president and a crowd of supporters at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, resulting in the death of attendee Corey Comperatore, injuries to two others and what many considered a providential graze of Trump’s ear before he stood and called for the American people to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

While the condition of Dawson was not available at the time of this post, the Secret Service noted that the investigation of the incident would be led by the Metropolitan Police Department Internal Affairs Division’s Force Investigations Team, who were responsible for all officer-involved shootings in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters days earlier that he was expecting a report sometime this week about the attempt on his life in Butler, “So, they are giving me a report next week sometime, and I do believe I’ll be releasing- I want to release the report. A lot of people have asked that question.”

Kevin Haggerty
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