World News for Students of English

27-05-2016 07:00

It’s like a scene from a Hollywood movie. Police cars speed down Pennsylvania Avenue. Snipers take watch on the roof. Not any ordinary day at America’s most famous building.

A man has been shot and critically wounded after brandishing a gun near the White House. President Barack Obama was out playing golf at the time whilst Vice-president Joe Biden is believed to have been on site. According to witnesses the man, who looked to be in his mid-20s, walked to the gate of the complex, pointing a silver-coloured gun toward the ground.

“I look over to my right and there was a man walking towards us, so I grabbed my boyfriend’s hand and I said, ’Do you see that gun right there?’ and so he had a gun out just in plain sight, I mean, it wasn’t even hidden, wasn’t anything.”

Police officials did not comment on whether the President’s family were at home at the time of the incident, but it appears action was swift nonetheless.

“We see him walking up to the gate and at the same time we saw that police officers come in and shoot him down.”

The Secret Service, which protects the presidents, briefly locked down the White House as a precaution whilst traffic was stopped and cars searched in a hope of discovering what it was that drove the man to bring a gun to the White House.

Difficult words: brandish (to wave as a threat), swift (quick), precaution (something you do to stop something from happening).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com