Secret Service agents protecting President Joe Biden's granddaughter opened fire after three people tried to break into an unmarked Secret Service car in Washington DC.
The agents assigned to protect Naomi Biden, 28, were out with her in the Georgetown neighborhood late on Sunday night when they saw three people breaking a window of the parked and unoccupied SUV, an official told AP.
One of the agents opened fire, but no one was struck by the gunfire, the Secret Service said in a statement.
The three people were seen fleeing in a red car, and the Secret Service said it put out a regional bulletin to Metropolitan Police to be on the lookout for it.
Washington has seen a significant rise in the number of car-jackings and car thefts this year.
Police have reported more than 750 car-jackings this year and more than 6,000 reports of stolen vehicles in the district.
US Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas was carjacked near the Capitol last month by three armed suspects, who stole his car but didn't physically harm him.
Violent crime in Washington has also been on the rise this year, up more than 40 per cent compared with last year.
In February, Congresswoman Angie Craig of Minnesota was assaulted in her apartment building, suffering bruises while escaping serious injury.
Naomi Biden married her husband Peter Neal at the White House in November last year.
The US President's eldest granddaughter opened up about her elaborate nuptials to Vogue, admitting the circumstances were a little unusual and "it's hard to ask people for their social security number with their RSVP".
Naomi and her husband had been living in the White House after their lease ran out on their apartment in Washington DC.
She has lived less than a mile away from her grandparents for most of her life, Vogue reports, and they would often attend her sports games and school plays, as well as sharing family movie nights.
