Secret Service agent near Janet Yellen's DC home opens fire on car break-in suspects

A Secret Service special agent protecting U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen opened fire early Tuesday on people who were suspected to be trying to break into cars, authorities say. Yellen was not harmed and there’s no indication she or the Secret Service were specifically targeted.

A special agent was working “a protective assignment” on Stephenson Place NW in Washington, D.C., at about 1:30 a.m. when the agent “observed a sedan with multiple occupants who were attempting to open car doors along the street,” the Secret Service said in a statement.

That assignment was outside Yellen’s home, law enforcement sources told News4.

As the sedan approached the agent, a confrontation erupted.

The agent opened fire but there was no evidence anyone was shot, the Secret Service said.

The suspects took off, and the search for them is ongoing.

“There was no threat to any protectees during this incident and no protectees were harmed,” the Secret Service said.

An investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Force Investigations Team is underway. The case will be reviewed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The big picture on DC car break-ins, carjackings and public figures

Thefts from cars are down 15% in the past year, D.C. police statistics say. Motor vehicle thefts are down 26% and carjackings are down 48%.

In July, a U.S. marshal on Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s D.C. security detail shot and wounded an 18-year-old after the teen tried to carjack a marshal.

Last year, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) was the victim of an armed carjacking in October near his home in the Navy Yard neighborhood. He said three people “came out of nowhere” and pointed guns at him.

In November 2023, a Secret Service agent protecting a granddaughter of President Joe Biden opened fire after three people tried to break into an unmarked Secret Service vehicle in Georgetown, an official said.