Thunderstorms moved through D.C. and surrounding areas about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.A lightning strike across the street from the White House, in Lafayette Park, hit four people, two men and two women, on Thursday evening. They were in critical condition. D.C. Fire and EMS had responded. “All four were suffering critical, life-threatening injuries,” Vito Maggiolo, a spokesperson for DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services, said in a news conference. The incident occurred as the victims were hidding from the storm under a tree near the center statue of former President Andrew Jackson.
Officials said it’s still unclear what the adults were doing prior to the lightning strike and and why they were in the park. Witnesses described hearing “a horrific boom.”The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area Thursday evening. Last week, one person was killed in a lighting strike, and a another was hospitalized and released, at an outdoors educator course at Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.
