US President Donald Trump and other senior officials were rushed to safety by the security detail after several shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening.
The incident happened at about 20:35 ET.
Some early reports suggested that the suspect had been shot dead by secret service agents, but he was actually taken down and taken into custody.
Trump shared grainy security footage of an armed man trying to run through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton. It shows the suspect bolting past a security barricade as Secret Service agents run toward him.
After being rushed to safety, Trump said: “A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service.”
US media report that the suspect has been identified as 31 year old Cole Thomas Allen of Torrance, California, he is expected to be formally charged in court on Monday.
According to Al Jazeera: the president was hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday night.
The dinner is an annual tradition, where journalists who cover the White House celebrate the First Amendment and raise money for journalism scholarships, together with the president and other US leaders.
But the gala event was interrupted by the sudden sound of gunfire, and Secret Service agents rushed the president out.
A man armed with a shotgun had fired at a Secret Service agent, an FBI official told the Reuters news agency. The agent was hit, but in an area covered by protective gear and was unharmed, the official said.
Reporting from Washington DC, Al Jazeera’s Chris Sheridan said everyone was eating and socialising, and suddenly, shots were heard.
“I thought it sounded like it came from behind where we were sitting, but it was quite loud. It was an echo. Quite a loud boom of at least five shots, which resonated throughout the ballroom just outside where we were,” he said.
Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher noted the very unusual night at the White House.
“We don’t often get the president stepping from an assassination attempt, which is what it appears like on the face of it now, into the briefing room to give the media an update, with everyone in their finest clothes,” he reported from Washington DC.
The Hilton hotel is no stranger to assassination attempts and has also been nicknamed the Reagan hotel – after John Hinckley Jr’s attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan there in 1981. That event is perhaps what the hotel is most famous for, and not the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Al Jazeera’s Fisher said that Trump seemed quite taken aback by the news.
“He himself initially had thought a tray had been dropped, or it was gunfire, and the Secret Service agent spirited him out of the hall along with the first lady and other members of the Cabinet,” he said.
He noted that Trump had made it clear that he wanted to continue the event, but the Secret Service wouldn’t allow it.
All US federal officials, including Trump, have been declared safe.
About an hour after Trump was rushed from the event, he posted on Truth Social that a “shooter had been apprehended.”
“Quite an evening in DC, Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job,” Trump added.
Trump said he had been asked to leave the dinner and said it will be rescheduled.
“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition,” he said. “I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days”.
Addressing reporters in the US shortly after, Trump lauded the bravery of the Secret Service agent who he said “was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job”.
“I just spoke to the officer, and he’s doing great. He’s in great shape. He is in very high spirits, and we told him we love him and respect him,” he said.
After he’d been rushed out, President Trump announced on Truth Social that the shooter had been “apprehended” and that he recommended the show go on.
Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we “LET THE SHOW GO ON” but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again. President DONALD J. TRUMP
