The man who participated in the shootout with Secret Service officers in the incident outside the White House on August 10 was most likely armed with a hairbrush. The Washington Post reported this with reference to court documents.
According to preliminary data, on August 10, the suspect, 51-year-old Myron Berryman, stood in a “shooter’s stand”, as if he was about to fire a shot from a weapon. There was a black object in his hands. A Secret Service officer fired at the suspect in response to the man’s actions.
As a result of the incident, Berryman and the officer were hospitalized, after which the suspect was charged with assaulting a law enforcement officer. At the same time, according to the materials of the court, after the shooting at the scene, an object was found that had fallen from the hands of Berriman, which turned out to be a comb.
The Secret Service officer who wounded the man said that after the shooting he realized that the object in the man’s hands was not a pistol, but “more like a comb.” It is noted that the suspect is currently discharged from the hospital and is in a psychiatric clinic.
On August 10, Trump, at the request of security officials, was forced to interrupt the press conference. Trump was followed by his administration staff, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.
A few minutes later, the American leader returned, said that there had been shooting near the White House and law enforcement officers had opened fire on the suspect and apparently wounded him. Nobody else was hurt, he said.
The US Secret Service later revealed details of the shooting at the White House. According to her, the suspect approached the officer and said that he had a weapon with him. Then the suspect turned around, ran aggressively towards the officer and made a movement to pull out an article of clothing, which caused the officer to fire a shot at the man.
The Secret Service said it would conduct an internal investigation into the actions of its employee, in addition, all data was transferred to the police also for investigation.