Texas Man Indicted Following Shootout with Secret Service

A federal grand jury has indicted a Texas resident linked to a violent confrontation with U.S. Secret Service agents earlier this month on the National Mall. This chaotic incident occurred mere moments from Vice President JD Vance’s departing motorcade.

The individual, identified as 45-year-old Michael Marx from Midland, Texas, now faces charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The charges include assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon and using a firearm during a violent crime.

Prosecutors reported that Marx, who also goes by the names Patrick Gary Michael and Michael Zavici, brought an unauthorized firearm into a busy tourist area before opening fire on law enforcement personnel.

The sequence of events began on May 4, 2026, at around 3:40 p.m. A plainclothes Secret Service agent noticed Marx appearing to conceal a firearm near 15th Street and Madison Drive NW. The agent promptly informed the Secret Service Joint Operations Center and requested backup.

At that moment, Vice President Vance’s motorcade was departing the White House complex, navigating the nearby intersection of 15th Street and Independence Avenue SW.

When uniformed Secret Service officers attempted to approach Marx, he disregarded their verbal commands and fled toward a group of pedestrians. During a brief chase east on Independence Avenue, Marx pulled out a Sig Sauer P365 9mm handgun from his waistband.

Once on the sidewalk, he allegedly turned and fired at an officer who was following him. Luckily, the bullet missed the agent but hit a teenage bystander in the leg, who was on the National Mall with family members.

In response, Secret Service agents returned fire, hitting Marx multiple times in his hand, left arm, and upper abdomen. He collapsed at the scene, where officers provided first aid and secured his loaded weapon. It was later discovered that Marx had a prior drug trafficking conviction from 2011 in Florida and lacked the necessary permit to carry a firearm in Washington, D.C.

As he was transported to George Washington University Hospital, Marx reportedly acted aggressively, spitting at officers and making alarming statements like, “Kill me, kill me, kill me” and “F— the White House.”

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro strongly denounced the reckless daylight shooting, stressing that the Department of Justice will seek the harshest penalties when gun violence endangers American democracy and puts families and government officials at risk.