New York Post

A crazed gunman who believed he was Jesus Christ pulled out a revolver and opened fire outside the White House Saturday night, before he was quickly taken down by a barrage of shots from the Secret Service, sources said.

Nasire Best, 21, fired at a checkpoint at about 6:10 p.m. after being seen pacing in a strange manner up and down 17th St. Northwest, sources told The Post. He only got off a few shots before he was shot and killed in a hail of bullets from federal officers.

At least one bystander was hit and seriously wounded in the fusillade, the sources said.

While a motive for the attack hasn’t been confirmed, sources said Best is a mentally troubled individual who was well-known to the Secret Service for repeatedly loitering around various entry posts and who has violated a previous court order to stay away from the White House.

[. . .]

Best, who was taken down by members of the Secret Service Uniformed Division, had previously been involuntarily committed on June 26 for obstructing vehicular traffic at 15th Street and E Street NW, before being arrested again on July 10 for Unlawful Entry.

In that incident, Best bypassed a restricted White House pedestrian control post by walking through an exit turnstile lane — and made crazed statements when D.C. police and Secret Service agents detained him.

“[Best] claimed he was Jesus Christ and that he wanted to get arrested,”  court records of the incident said.

[. . .]

Trump thanked law enforcement for its quick response following Saturday’s shooting.

“Thank you to our great Secret Service and Law Enforcement for the swift and professional action taken this evening against a gunman near the White House, who had a violent history and possible obsession with our Country’s most cherished structure,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, Sunday morning. “The gunman is dead after an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service Agents near the White House gates. This event is one month removed from the White House Correspondent’ Dinner shooting, and goes to show how important it is, for all future Presidents, to get, what will be, the most safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington, D.C. The National Security of our Country demands it!”