US President Donald Trump and other top leaders have been evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents after shots were fired.
Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and all the other guests were not injured during the security incident on Sunday morning AEST.
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The attempted shooting took place outside the room where the president and other officials were attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds.
Several Secret Service agents yelled “shots fired” according to pool reports, while others yelled “out of the way, sir!”.
Attendees were also told to duck.
One officer was shot however saved by a bullet proof vest.
CCTV footage posted by the president on Truth Social showed the alleged shooter sprinting towards the hall, past a security checkpoint.
The video appears to show Secret Service members reacting quickly, pointing their guns at the shooter.
Trump also posted a picture of the shirtless alleged shooter being detained on the ground by authorities.
In a press conference 30 minutes after the incident, Trump said the shooter was armed with multiple weapons.
He said one officer was shot from a “very close distance with a very powerful gun”.
“I just spoke to the officer, and he’s doing great,” Trump said.
“He has very high spirits and we told him we love him and respect him and he’s a very proud guy.”
The president said he heard a noise from “quite far away” but at first thought it was a tray falling.
He said the alleged shooter was a “very sick person” and appeared to live in California.
The incident was a “traumatic experience” for his wife Melania, Trump said.
“There was a lot of action taking place up there very quickly, but again, the response time was really incredible, and we’re going to reschedule (the dinner),” Trump said.
“We’re going to do it again. We’re not going to let anybody take over our society. We’re not going to cancel things out, because we can’t do that.”
Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts, most notably an attempted shooting in 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks.
When asked by a reporter why he thought he kept being targeted, Trump said he had studied assassinations and that it was usually “the people who do the most” who were victims.
“You take a look at the people like Abraham Lincoln, and when you go through the people that have gone through this where they got them, but the people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones that they go after,” he said.
“They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much, because they like it that way.
“When you look at the people that have either, whether it was an attempt or a successful attempt, they’re very impactful people. Just take a look at the names, the big names, and I hate to say I’m honored by that, but I’ve done a lot. We’ve done a lot.”
The alleged shooter will be charged soon, Acting United States Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Charges will include firearm possession offences and “anything else we can get on this guy”, he said.
“Tonight you saw the very worst of the very best of this country,” Blanche said.
“You saw the very worst by the actions of that coward that the president just talked about, but you also saw the very best because you saw law enforcement do exactly what they’re supposed to do.”
Interim Metropolitan DC Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the alleged gunman was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives
He was not struck by gunfire but did exchange shots during the altercation with Secret Service agents and other authorities.
It’s believed the suspect was a guest at the Washington Hilton Hotel where the dinner was being held.
“So preliminary information, we do believe he was a guest here at the hotel. We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we’ll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there,” Carroll said.
He said that room is secure, and stressed the suspect is believed to have acted alone.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said on X the service was investigating the incident alongside the Metropolitan Police Department.
“We will provide updates as they become available and confirm information. Our teams are on the ground assessing the situation and investigating,” he said.
Trump’s attendance at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington was his first as president.
– With AP