Benjamin Del Real Jr., a 25-year-old bystander who was injured during a Secret Service shootout with a suspect in May near the White House, has filed a personal-injury claim against the agency, alleging a Secret Service agent was actually the one who shot him.
“We have a very reliable and confidential source that tells us — who saw the CCTV footage of this incident — who says in no uncertain terms that the Secret Service shot Ben,” Joseph Murphy, Del Real’s attorney, said. “It’s clear as day.”
Del Real and his father were visiting Washington on May 23 when someone opened fire on a security checkpoint near the intersection of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, according to authorities. The gunman, identified as Nasire Best, was killed in the shootout, while Del Real, an active-duty U.S. Army soldier from Kansas, was hit by a bullet.
During the news conference announcing the lawsuit, Murphy said the Del Real family was standing about 20 yards away from the suspected gunman, telling reporters that meant the Secret Service should have been “more surgical in their taking down of the shooter.”
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Del Real’s attorneys have attempted to negotiate with the Secret Service, Murphy said, but they have not “gotten any real, definitive or substantive answers at all in terms of what occurred.” Del Real is filing a claim under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which is the first step toward suing the federal government.
“It’s part of the reason why we’re frustrated here, and we’re seeking more answers,” Murphy told reporters. “We have given them two months. I think we’ve been reasonable.”
Murphy acknowledged that the U.S. Secret Service is a “highly trained and highly effective organization,” but said agents “fell well short of their training” when Del Real was shot.
The Secret Service referred questions about the claim to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Del Real was shot in the abdomen and tore his ACL during the incident, his lawyers said. Emergency services rushed Del Real to George Washington University Hospital to undergo emergency surgery where doctors removed parts of his colon and part of his small intestine. The soldier has had two surgeries since the shooting and has had to recover from an infection during his medical treatment.
“I enlisted a year and a half ago, and it’s been one of the greatest journeys that I’ve taken thus far in my life,” Del Real told reporters when asked about returning to his role in the U.S. Army. “I am concerned with the ability to be able to perform the job that I signed up to do at this time.”
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