A male suspect has been shot by Secret Service and is in a critical condition after he brandished a gun in the vicinity of the White House.

The man, not yet identified, reportedly walked up to a uniformed officer at a checkpoint outside the gates and brandished a weapon.

He was shot in the abdomen by the officer and the scene was secured.

The suspect, who was reportedly suicidal, was taken to George Washington University Hospital.

US Park Police tweeted that a shooting occured after 2pm on West Executive Drive, near 17th Strreet and Pennsylvania Avenue North West in Washington DC.

"When the subject failed to comply with the verbal commands, he was shot once by a Secret Service agent and taken into custody," a spokesperson said. "The Secret Service recovered a firearm at the scene. Secret Service Uniformed Division Officers and an agent provided medical aid to the subject."

Secret Service put out a “red alert”, but the lockdown was lifted at around 4pm on Friday, two hours after the incident.

President Barack Obama was not on the property, according to news reports.

The White House said in a statement that no members of staff were injured.

The 19th-century government building has dealt with mulitple security incidents in the past, including fence-jumpers and a man who shot a semi-automatic rifle at the White House in 1994 as president Bill Clinton was watching a football game.

The same year, a light plane circled above the building before crashing to the ground, killing the pilot.

Following an incident in 1974 when a man called Marshall Fields crashed his car through the White House gates, they were reinforced with steel.

In 2001, a man called Robert Pickett shot a gun outside the building, brandishing the weapon and sticking the gun barrel inside his mouth. Secret Service shot him in the knee.