Washington: US President Donald Trump and other top officials were evacuated unharmed from the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association after a man armed with multiple weapons fired shots outside the hotel ballroom.
The incident occurred on Saturday at around 8:34 PM when dinner was served. At that time, Trump was seen having a conversation with Weijia Jiang, the president of the association, and mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was scheduled to present a show at the marquee event at the Washington Hilton here.
Secret Service officials and other security personnel covered the President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President J D Vance, and the Second Lady Usha Vance, who were seated at the head table, and escorted them out of the ballroom.
Several guests at the dinner, including leaders across the political spectrum, journalists and other invitees, ducked under the table, apparently as a reflex reaction.
“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition,” Trump posted on social media soon after the incident.
Putting up a brave face, Trump also announced on Truth Social that the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days.
Hours later, Trump addressed a press conference at the White House and announced that the security personnel had captured one person who hails from California.
“I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray going down. I’ve heard that many times. It was a pretty loud noise, and it was from quite far away. He (the attacker) hadn’t reached the area at all. They really got him,” Trump told reporters, recalling the incident.
Trump said one security officer was shot at but saved as he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Several world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressed relief that President Trump and his top officials were unharmed, asserting that political violence has no place in a democracy.
“I extend my best wishes for their continued safety and well-being. Violence has no place in a democracy and must be unequivocally condemned,” Modi said in a post on X.
Expressing shock at the incident, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that any attack on democratic institutions must be condemned.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Canadian PM Mark Carney, Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif, Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Australian PM Anthony Albanese extended their full support to Trump, calling the attack “unacceptable”.
Delcy Rodriguez, the acting President of Venezuela following the capture of Nicolas Maduro by US forces, also condemned the attack against Trump.
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California, has been arrested.
Quoting Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, CNN reported that the suspect who charged through a security checkpoint at the event appeared to be “targeting Trump administration officials.”
The suspect was not on their radar before the shooting, a law enforcement official was quoted as saying by the channel.
A CNN reporter who was outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton said he saw a gunman opening fire just a few feet away. He was among the dozens of attendees who took cover as law enforcement swarmed the venue.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom is all that I heard, and many guests ducked under the table,” a C-SPAN reporter at the dinner said.
Several protestors had lined up on the road outside the hotel, raising slogans against the Trump administration and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Asked how Saturday’s incident impacts him as the US president, Trump told reporters he is in a dangerous job but that he is no “basket case.”
“I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled,” Trump said.
“I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives…everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd,” he said.
“We had some great work done by law enforcement, but in light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully,” Trump said at the White House, flanked by First Lady Melania, Vice President Vance, FBI Director Kash Patel and top officials, including Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Markwayne Mullin, Todd Blanche, among others.
Reacting to the incident, lawmakers cutting across party lines asserted that political violence has no place in the United States.
Veteran Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi, a prominent Trump detractor, said it was a great relief that the President, First Lady and everyone in attendance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner are safe.
“The brave men and women of the United States Secret Service and local law enforcement are to be commended for their swift action to secure the scene and protect those present,” Pelosi said
“My thoughts are with the brave Secret Service agent who was shot. Political violence is completely unacceptable. There is no place for it in our country,” Democrat leader Ro Khanna said.
Republican leader Steve Scalise thanked the brave members of law enforcement who acted quickly to protect all attending Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“This is an event meant to bring people together. Violence has NO place in our country,” Scalise, the House Majority Leader, said in a post on X.
Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani said that “political violence is absolutely unacceptable.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he and his wife Kelly were at the event and were thankful that no innocent people were harmed and everyone is now safe.
Amit Kumar Sharma, Business Head of a leading software company based in the capital city, who was present at the event, said that “everything seemed fantastic and well managed”, but suddenly “there was chaos and we were told that some gunshots have been fired.”
There were around 4000 people at the hotel premises at the time he said, adding that this was the first time President Trump was going to attend this annual dinner.
Trump has survived two assassination attempts over the past two years – first at a presidential election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, and later in Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024.
