Five people shot in area within walking distance of the White House, say police

Five people were shot in a trendy Washington DC neighbourhood within walking distance of the White House, said police, who were responding to multiple locations.

The shooter had not been caught, and the locations of the shootings were unclear, police department spokeswoman Nicole Deaner said.

The shootings were reported in Logan Circle, about a mile north of the White House.

No other details are immediately available, police officer Nathan Clarke said.

Police urged people to avoid the area of the 1,500 block of 15th Street, which includes a fitness centre, St Luke’s Episcopal Church and residences and is around the corner from a Whole Foods supermarket.

Much of the block was cordoned off.

Schools near the scene were placed on lockdown.

Streets around the area also were blocked off during a massive police response.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it sent agents to the scene to help.

And the FBI said its Washington field office was helping local police with the investigation.

Witness Ryan Dubicki was in his nearby apartment around 8am when he said he “heard about five bangs”.

“They were really spread out so I thought it was construction,” he said.

It was only a short time later that he looked out “and there were cops everywhere”.

His apartment building managers sent a notice that there was a possible active shooter.

The neighbourhood has seen violence before.

In early August 2025, a onetime member of US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted early on a Sunday morning in the Logan Circle area by a group of teenagers attempting to carjack him and a woman, authorities said.

Days later, Mr Trump fulfilled his threat to bypass local authority and imposed direct federal control over the city, sending in hundreds of National Guard members to reduce crime.

That deployment continues today.