Shots fired near US vice-president Joe Biden's home

Shots were fired from a speeding vehicle outside US Vice President Joe Biden's residence in Delaware on Saturday night, the Secret Service have confirmed.

Biden and his wife Jill were out for the evening when the incident took place, at approximately 8:25 pm local time, the Secret Service said.

The agency said the vehicle "drove by the vice president's residence at a high rate of speed and fired multiple gun shots" from a public road outside a security perimeter around the house.

"The shots were heard by Secret Service personnel posted at the residence, and a vehicle was observed by an agent leaving the scene at a high rate of speed," it said.

An unidentified individual in a vehicle was arrested about 35 minutes later attempting to pass a local police officer securing the outer security perimeter around the house in New Castle County, Delaware.

Agents were looking to see whether any rounds hit the house, which is set back several hundred metres from the main road.