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A Secret Service agent has been hospitalized after accidentally shooting himself at Philadelphia International Airport Friday morning.
The agent was injured at 8:42 a.m. while traveling in an unmarked Chevrolet SUV near an access point at the airport, the Philadelphia Police Department said. It was not immediately clear what caused the agent’s firearm to accidentally discharge.
The agent was on duty at the airport on a protective assignment covering former first lady Jill Biden, according to an Associated Press report. Biden, who was not present at the time of the incident, was in Harrisburg for a speaking event this week with Pennsylvania’s first lady, Lori Shapiro.
Secret Service spokesperson Nate Herring said the Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility would “review the facts and circumstances” of the incident. The agent, he added, was injured while handling a service weapon.
Emergency responders transported the agent, who has not been identified, to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, and he was reported in stable condition. Herring said that the agent suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Airport officials declined to comment on the incident. There were no other reported injuries, and airport operations were not interrupted. Authorities are continuing to investigate.
By early Friday afternoon, there were no obvious impacts or major issues attributable to the Secret Service agent’s self-inflicted shooting. But the incident marked another unusual event in a somewhat tumultuous week at the airport.
With Transportation Security Administration staffing levels affected by the ongoing partial government shutdown, three security checkpoints at PHL have been temporarily closed. And on Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were deployed there to supplement the TSA’s staffing levels.
Deploying ICE agents to the airport was a controversial move and has since been disavowed by local leaders, including City Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Councilmembers Nina Ahmed and Kendra Brooks. The agency’s presence at PHL, Johnson said Thursday, is “creating an atmosphere of fear, of confusion, and intimidation.”
Staff writers Sam Janesch and Henry Savage contributed to this article.