Former First Lady Jill Biden speaks at an event on January 20, 2022
As if airports weren’t stressful enough — especially in recent weeks due to long lines resulting from the congressional DHS funding standoff — on Friday morning, the Philadelphia International Airport had a particularly fraught moment when a Secret Service agent assigned to protect former first lady Jill Biden shot themselves in the leg.
A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service summed up the situation in a statement: “On Friday morning just after 8:30, an on-duty U.S. Secret Service Special Agent suffered a non-life-threatening injury following a negligent discharge while handling a service weapon at the Philadelphia International Airport during a protective assignment.”
Details are still emerging, but it appears that while Biden was in the airport, she was not actually with the agent when the self-shooting occurred. Paramedics responded immediately, and the agent is currently in the hospital in stable condition and is expected to recover fully.
The matter will be investigated by the Secret Service Office of Professional Responsibility, and while this appears to be an isolated incident, it does come at a time when there are questions about “deep flaws” within the agency that arose in the wake of the 2024 assassination attempt on future President Donald Trump.
It also comes at a moment when airports across the country are in the grip of chaos due to TSA agent resignations and callouts driven by a congressional standoff over funding. There has been no word yet on whether TSA staffing issues contributed to today’s shooting.