The U.S. Secret Service on Nov. 13 confirmed that its agents who are tasked with protecting President Joe Biden’s granddaughter fired shots in the midst of an attempted break-in.
The agents who opened fire were with Naomi Biden’s security detail in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood before midnight when they saw the suspects breaking into their unoccupied vehicle, officials with the agency confirmed to several media outlets on Nov. 13.
Officials said it’s believed that none of the suspects were shot and that the suspects fled in what the agency described as a red vehicle. Descriptions of the suspects weren’t provided.
“There was no threat to any of the protectees,” the agency said, noting that the incident is being investigated further.
Violent crime in Washington has also been on the rise this year, up by more than 40 percent from last year. In February, Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) was assaulted in her apartment building; she suffered bruises but escaped serious injury.
Earlier this year a staffer for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was “brutally attacked in broad daylight” in Washington, he said at the time. It was later confirmed that a suspect was arrested in connection to the incident.
Ms. Biden, a 29-year-old lawyer, hasn’t issued a statement on the matter and neither has the White House. It isn’t clear whether she was in the vicinity of the attempted carjacking or Secret Service-involved shooting.
She’s the oldest daughter of President Biden’s son Hunter. In November 2022, Ms. Biden married Peter Neal in a ceremony at the White House.
Crime on the Rise
In late September, the U.S. capital city hit the 200 murder mark, according to officials, which drew a response from the D.C. Police Union on social media.
“We are still short 100s of cops and the responsible policing that used to address this has been prohibited by misguided legislation,” the union wrote on X, formerly Twitter, more than a week ago.
Earlier this year, Republicans criticized the leaders of Washington D.C. during a House hearing, portraying the capital as a Democrat-run city that has long been mismanaged and fallen into a state of disarray because of left-wing bail reform rules. In May, they passed a measure that would overturn a so-called police reform package that was passed by the D.C. Council amid the nationwide riots and protests in 2020.
“Your position seems to have been ‘Hands off our city,’ and that’s not going to fly with the Republicans on the House Oversight Committee,” Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told members of the D.C. Council earlier this year. “We want to work with you, and you’re going to have to work with us.”
