United States Secret Service police stand in front of the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington September 29, 2014. (Photo: DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG)
Reuters
A gunman opened fire during a protest on the Ethiopian Embassy grounds on Monday, according to a video of the incident, but no injuries were reported.
A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service said it had detained a possible shooter after a report at about 12:15 p.m. EDT that shots were fired near the embassy in northwest Washington, D.C.
Witnesses said the gunfire took place inside the embassy compound during a protest against the Horn of Africa nation’s government.
“About half a block from the embassy, I heard at least four shots, and I thought there were people killed,” demonstrator Tesfa Simagne told Reuters Television.
A video taken inside the embassy gates and carried by the website of Ethiopian Satellite Television shows a man wearing a dark suit and brandishing a silver handgun.
He points the weapon at others who argue with him and fires a single shot. Still waving the gun and arguing with protesters, the man backs up to an embassy door and goes inside.
A separate video made by a protester and provided to Reuters showed a bullet hole in the windshield of a car protesters said was outside the embassy gates.
A State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that no one was hurt. The person believed to have fired the shots turned himself in to authorities, and no arrests were made because he has diplomatic immunity, the official said.
Repeated phone calls to the embassy went unanswered.
Video: Shot Fired outside Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, .D.C (FOX)
DC News FOX 5 DC WTTG
By Maureen Umeh
WASHINGTON – Shots were fired outside the Embassy of Ethiopia in D.C. on Monday afternoon.
It happened around 12:15 p.m., according to the U.S. Secret Service.
Officers responded immediately after hearing reports of shots being fired, and they detained and questioned an Ethiopian guard who works at the embassy. He is believed to have fired the shots.
An Ethiopian television network caught the shooting on camera while they were covering a protest at the embassy. FOX 5′s Maureen Umeh has been told similar anti-government protests happen frequently here and are usually peaceful. However, some protesters went onto embassy grounds on Monday and taunted the guard. He responded by firing warning shots, one of which struck a woman’s car and shattering her front window.
No injuries were reported.
The Embassy of Ethiopia is located at 3506 InternationalDrive, NW.
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Related:
Video: Man brandishes gun near Ethiopian embassy, shots fired (ESAT video via Reuters)
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