WASHINGTON: Police were responding to a shooting in downtown Washington, about a mile from the White House, on Thursday as a local official said “multiple people” were shot at a fitness center.

The Washington police department said on X that its emergency response team was on the scene of the “active shooting” in the Logan Circle area of the nation’s capital.

Brooke Pinto, a member of the DC City Council, said the shooting occurred at and outside a fitness center and “multiple people” had been shot.

She said police were looking for a suspect.

Residents were urged to avoid the area of the shooting, which occurred during the busy morning rush hour and sparked a massive police response.

Multiple law enforcement agencies could be seen rushing to the scene of the shooting.

The Washington Sun quoted a member of the VIDA Fitness gym as saying that he was on a treadmill at the facility when the shooting began.

Michael Carney said he heard a “pop” and then saw someone on the gym floor who had been shot in the head.

“Everyone was kind of just hiding behind planters and stuff,” Carney told The Sun.