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An NBC reporter is being mocked on social media for her lackadaisical response to a gunman opening fire outside the White House.
NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Tsirkin was taping a live segment on the White House lawn when the gunshots rang out — with her wearing a look of mild confusion as the distant bangs echoed.
She briefly turns toward the direction of the racket before looking at someone off-camera and asking, “What is that?”
A male voice can be heard saying, “Sounds like fireworks.”
Tsirkin then turns to face the White House and even takes a step in the direction of the source of the gunfire.
She then looks into the camera and still appears confused but makes no attempt to get out of harm’s way.
In a segment broadcast on the network later that night in which she showed the viral clip, Tsirkin said she and the crew heard “20 to 30” gunshots.
“I ended up running after that happened. I saw a Secret Service agent come out of the security booth, guns drawn, telling all of us, the few of us who were out there, to run inside the press briefing room,” she said.
Many viewers ridiculed her for her muted initial response to the danger.
“This reporter has the survival instincts of a lemming,” an X user wrote in a post sharing the clip, which has been viewed nearly two million times.
Another person said, “Zero common sense.”
Some people contrasted Tsirkin’s reaction with a clip of ABC News reporter Selina Wang, who was also on camera during the shooting — although her face immediately registered terror as she heard the gunfire and ducked for cover right away.
Others, however, defended Tsirkin rather than joining on the dogpile.
“I totally understand her reactions,” an X sympathiser wrote. “I didn’t grow up around gunshots and was in my 30s before I heard a gun fight. If you’ve never heard them before, it’s not immediately assumed to be gunfire.”
The incident was quickly made into a meme in which Tsirkin’s White House backdrop is replaced with superimposed video of progressively more dangerous scenarios, including soldiers engaged in all-out war, a mushroom cloud rising in the distance and even former US President Joe Biden sniffing her hair from behind.
Tsirkin showed she had a sense of humour about her brush with viral fame, owning it with a post on X showing her seated at a desk with one of the memes on her computer screen in the background.
“I’m glad I could take one for the team, with [“Saturday Night Live”] on summer break,” she quipped. “Thanks for the memes, internet! Hope you’ll stick around for the reporting.”
The gunman, Nasire Best, 21, fired several shots at a White House checkpoint around 6.10pm on Saturday, US time, after being spotted pacing in a strange manner up and down 17th Street NW, sources told The Post.
The man, who sources said was known to the Secret Service and believed he was Jesus Christ, was killed in a hail of bullets when federal officers returned fire.
At least one bystander was struck and seriously wounded, sources said.
US President Donald Trump later said on Truth Social that Best had a “possible obsession” with the White House.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission
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