“WE HAVE to be concerned about trigger-happy Americans armed here,” MEP Patricia McKenna said on the television news on Monday evening.

A suicide note has been found in the car of a man who fired a gun outside the White House.

Police in the US claim a former tax officer who fired several shots outside the White House was trying to get himself killed.

Robert Pickett, identified as the gunman shot outside the White House gates, is an Indiana accountant with no prior criminal record.

Two law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the man who today fired shots outside the White House as Robert Pickett, of Evansville, Indiana.