A Former Athlete Who Claimed He Was God: What We Know About The White House Shooter

DUNDALK, MD — Interviews and court records present Nasire Best — the 21-year-old from Dundalk killed by U.S. Secret Service agents after firing a gun Saturday outside the White House — as an isolated young man plagued by legal troubles who claimed he was God, according to reports.

Best was struck around 6 p.m. in the area of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, after he pulled a weapon from his bag and started shooting toward a security checkpoint, with Secret Service returning fire, authorities said, noting he later died at a hospital.

A bystander was also struck and was in serious condition Sunday after suffering a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening, according to the Secret Service.

Best had a previous run-in with law enforcement near the White House, according to District of Columbia court records. He was arrested last July for attempting to enter White House grounds near a different checkpoint. He failed to heed officers’ commands to stop, claimed to be Jesus Christ and said he wanted to be arrested.

On June 26, he was involuntarily committed for blocking vehicle entry to the White House, according to The Washington Post.

Best was a track and field athlete at Dundalk High School, from which he graduated in 2023. His senior year was difficult, a friend told the Post, speaking to the newspaper anonymously. Best was bullied, suspended after a fight, and missed prom and some of the track season, the friend told the Post.

Jerome Patterson, who ran track with Best and worked with him at Amazon after high school, told The Baltimore Banner they were friends, saying, “everything was fine until randomly he started talking about being in control of people and reality, and how he could tap into a different frequency and hear and peep things that we couldn’t.”

Best became convinced he was God, quit Amazon and stopped talking to his closest friends, Patterson told the Banner. Best was also evicted in December for failing to pay rent, the Banner reported, citing court records.

His mother, Rhonda Melvin, told the Post she learned of Best’s death on social media and that he “was never violent, regardless of what people are posting.”

Voting records show he registered to vote in 2022 as a Republican, according to the Post.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.