The gunman first shot and killed a person in a gym, then continued firing after reaching the street. According to police, he then barricaded himself in a building.
At least one person has been killed and four others injured in a shooting near Logan Circle, a popular neighbourhood within walking distance of the White House in Washington, DC, according to police in the US capital.
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The suspected gunman has barricaded himself on the top floor of a nearby residential building. His identity and motive are not yet known.
According to US media reports, an armed man entered the Vida Fitness gym, shot a customer in the back and then ran out of the building. The gym was evacuated, and more shots were fired in the street before people scattered.
Nearby public schools have been placed on alert. For now, pupils are not being allowed to leave, and no one is being allowed in.
Police have sealed off the area and asked people to take cover. A SWAT team and other officers have also been sent to the scene.
One eyewitness, who was in the gym when the shooting started at around 8am local time, said there were about 50 people inside.
“Within seconds, a man fell to the ground and blood started pouring out from under him,” he said. “One of the gym customers rushed over to help him. The man died instantly. He had been shot in the neck.”
He said he and others ran out of the gym. He believed two shots were fired inside the gym and a further five or six outside.
The area has seen violent crime before. In the early hours of a Sunday in August 2025, a group of teenagers attacked a former staff member of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the cost-cutting body set up under President Donald Trump, and tried to steal the car belonging to him and a woman he was with.