Secret Service agents shoot reported intruder at Peruvian ambassador's residence in Washington DC

• US Secret Service officers fatally shot an intruder at the Washington DC residence of the Peruvian ambassador to the US, authorities said.
• The trespasser was wielding a metal stake in his hands at the time he was shot, said authorities.

US Secret Service officers on Wednesday morning fatally shot a metal stake-wielding intruder at the official Washington DC residence of the Peruvian ambassador to the US while the ambassador was home, according to authorities.

The shooting unfolded shortly before 8 a.m. in the rear yard of the property on Garrison Street nearby the Peruvian embassy in Washington DC, the Secret Service and the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee told reporters during a press briefing that a man had busted out several windows around the residence of Ambassador Hugo de Zela Martinez before Secret Service officers were called to the house by family members inside.

"There were family members who were inside the residence," Contee said. "As they're hearing the smashing of the windows they make a notification to the uniformed division of the US Secret Service department."

Once the Secret Service officers arrived on the scene, they located the man behind the ambassador's home, Contee said.

Contee added that the suspect had "smashed out several windows to the backside of this residence."

The Secret Service officers fired their Tasers at the suspect, who was carrying a metal stake, but the Tasers "did not take effect," Contee said, explaining that the officers then fired shots at the intruder.

The man, who was described by police as in his late 20s or early 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Contee confirmed that the Peruvian ambassador and his wife were at the home at the time of the shooting.

Authorities said the Secret Service officers did not suffer any injuries, but were taken to an area hospital for evaluation.

No one inside the ambassador's residence was injured, officials said.

"We don't know who this individual is, we don't know why this person was on the ambassador's residential property, we don't know why person smashed out several windows, we don't know why this person had a metal stake, we don't know why this person approached the officers with that metal stake, but we're investigating that now," Contee said.

Contee noted that it did not appear that the ambassador's family knew who the suspect was.

"This is totally out of the ordinary," Conteee said of the situation.

Meanwhile, the official Twitter account for the Embassy of Peru in Washington DC tweeted on Wednesday that it "regrets to report that today, early in the morning, a person entered the Official Residence without authorization, causing material damage to the property. Said person was shot by the Secret Service."

"The Ambassador, his family, the Residential staff, and the secret service agents are safe, and the fact is being investigated by the competent authorities," the embassy tweeted.