Shock and dismay after national guard troops shot near White House | US news

T.The scene around Washington’s Farragut Square on Wednesday afternoon appears to fit Donald Trump’s scariest stereotypes of a crime-ridden capital that needs federal troops to bring a solid whiff of law and order.

This area, normally sheltered by professional office workers, cafes and lunch joints, bore the signs of a major crime scene as news spread that two National Guard troops had been shot.

In the minutes following the shooting outside the Farragut North subway station, teams of security forces, police officers and heavily armed Secret Service personnel descended on the usually quiet area and quickly cordoned off neighboring streets.

Workers in nearby offices were banned from entering the plaza and told to use rear entrances instead.

From the Guardian’s Washington bureau overlooking the square, the area was ablaze with the flashing lights of police and rescue vehicles and there was a frenzy of activity as law enforcement officers combed the streets and a helicopter hovered overhead.

There was a disturbing backdrop to the area, which owes its name to David Farragut, the famous Union naval commander in the American Civil War, immortalized by the famous battle cry “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead” during the battle of Mobile Bay.

In the square, the initial shock was replaced by horror among the residents of the area who flocked to the area after hearing about the incident.

One of the first to arrive was Gary Goodweather, the Democratic candidate in next year’s mayoral election, who was eating lunch on Washington’s 14th Street when he learned of the shooting.

Goodweather, a former US captain who served in the National Guard, said he was not surprised by this and suggested that Trump’s deployment of federal forces to the streets of Washington was an invitation to violence.

“To be honest, we were expecting this. This hurts me deeply,” he said. “We knew Trump was going to do this to the city. He tried to do this during his first administration. He knew what he was doing when he activated the national guard.”

“The national guard should not have been in our city for law enforcement.”

Asked whether the Trump administration assumed moral responsibility for the shooting by deploying guards, Goodweather paused for a few seconds and replied: “Yes.

“Look around us. These are citizens, they are residents, they are people. Mobilizing the U.S. military against people in our own country, in Washington, D.C., is the wrong message.”

Goodweather said he feared the administration would respond by increasing troop deployments, which would “inflame” the mood on the streets.

“Please don’t let this happen,” he said. “Having a greater national guard military presence is the exact opposite of what we need to be doing right now.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered 500 additional National Guard soldiers to be sent to the city at Trump’s request.

Jesse Lovell, 51, a freelance editor and consultant, drove from his home in northwestern Washington immediately after hearing the news.

“I wanted to know what was going on because this is an area I’m in often,” he said. “This really sucks.”

Lovell said he was concerned about possible political motivations behind the attack but was trying to avoid apportioning blame. But he said many residents were angry about what he called the “occupation” of the capital by federal troops.

He said the anger was directed not at the National Guard, but at other federal agents involved in the arrests.

“It’s been going on for months and we’re hearing that it could last well into next year because of the so-called crime emergency, which I don’t believe for a second,” he said.

“I know D.C. and the crime here is not what it used to be. But I don’t think there were any incidents between the national guard and the locals.”

Addressing reporters across from the scene of the shooting, FBI director Kash Patel addressed none of those concerns, instead delivering a strict law-and-order message while paying tribute to members of the national guard he called “heroes.”

“We’ll examine every clue, every piece of evidence [to find the perpetrator]“This is the power of the U.S. government at its best,” he said.