Updated ,first published
Washington DC: US President Donald Trump has been evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel after a shooting outside the ballroom, and the Secret Service has the alleged shooter in custody.
Attendees were seen hiding behind chairs at about 8.30pm Washington DC time when Secret Service agents rushed the stage to escort Trump and other dignitaries, including Vice President JD Vance and first lady Melania Trump, from the long table at the front of the room.
The annual dinner for White House journalists was getting under way when armed security rushed in. Attendees were eating a spring pea and burrata salad, and waiters had begun preparing to bring out the next course, when a security detail appeared on the ballroom floor and yelled for everyone to get down.
Secret Service agents yelled “shots fired”, “stay down” and “out of the way, sir!” as Trump and cabinet members were rushed out. All the leaders are reported uninjured.
Journalists in gowns and tuxedos ducked near tables as wine splattered onto white tablecloths and glasses clinked in the hurry to seek safety.
Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five to eight shots fired. At one point, someone in the room shouted, “USA!”
The FBI said the shooter was in custody and that its Washington field office is responding to the shooting. DC police say officers are at the scene.
The Associated Press has identified the gunman as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, according to two law enforcement sources.
Interim police chief Jeff Carroll said the alleged gunman was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives when he charged a security checkpoint outside the Hilton ballroom.
The suspect was not shot during the exchange of gunfire, but was still taken to hospital for assessment. He probably acted alone, Carroll said.
Trump said in a Truth Social post about 30 minutes after the incident that he wanted to stay and continue with the dinner, but law enforcement asked him to leave the premises.
“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job,” he said. “They acted quickly and bravely.”
In a press conference at the White House later in the evening, Trump said he had spoken with a Secret Service agent who was shot in his bulletproof vest.
“He’s doing great, he’s in great shape,” Trump said. “He was in very high spirits and we told him we love him and respect him and he is a very proud guy.”
Trump said he believed he was the target. “I guess. These people are crazy. You never know.” he said.
Trump’s insisted that he would not change the way he goes about his job despite another act of violence that was seemingly politically motivated.
Trump stressed how much he wanted to go back into the ballroom and resume the event, but law enforcement recommended otherwise. And he was adamant the White House Correspondents’ Dinner would be rescheduled, and be “bigger and better”.
“We’re not going to let anybody take over our society. We’re not going to cancel things out,” Trump said. “I don’t like to let these sick people, these horrible thugs, change the fabric of our lives, change what we do.”
He also praised first lady Melania Trump for her poise during a “traumatic time”.
Trump also used his press conference to advocate for the new ballroom he is in the process of having built at the White House, as he believes tonight’s venue “wasn’t particularly secure”.
“We looked at all of the [security] conditions that took place tonight, and I will say it is not a particularly secure building,” Trump said.
“I didn’t want to say this, but this is why we have to have all the attributes of what we are planning at the White House with a larger room and it is drone-proof, bulletproof.
“We need the ballroom, that is why Secret Service and the military are demanding it.”
Generally, the Hilton Hotel, where the dinner has taken place for years, remains open to regular guests during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It has typically been focused on the ballroom with little screening for people in the hotel, not entering the dinner itself.
In past years, that has created openings for disruptions in the lobby and other public spaces, including protests in which security moved to remove guests who unfurled banners or staged demonstrations.
The banquet hall, where hundreds of prominent journalists, celebrities and national leaders were awaiting Trump’s speech, was immediately evacuated. Members of the National Guard took up position inside the building as people were allowed to leave but not re-enter.
With Jessica McSweeney, Roy Ward, AP
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political reporter in Canberra.Connect via X or email.From our partners
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