A man armed with guns and knives stormed the lobby outside a high-profile journalists’ dinner attended by President Donald Trump and multiple senior U.S. leaders on Saturday night, rushing toward the ballroom before Secret Service agents swarmed him and took him into custody. The president was uninjured and was hustled away.
Guests went diving under tables as the scene unfolded and some reported hearing shots outside the vast subterranean ballroom in the Washington Hilton where the event was being held.
One law enforcement official said a gunman had opened fire. A law enforcement officer was shot in the bullet-resistant vest but is expected to be OK, several sources told The Associated Press.
The shooting suspect — described by Trump as a “sick person” — was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the AP.
“When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” Trump, safe and uninjured and still in his tuxedo, said at the White House two hours later. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”
Speaking from the White House, Trump describes the scene after Saturday’s shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in the nation’s capital.
There was no immediate indication of any other involvement, and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she had “no reason” to believe anyone else was involved. Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him.
“There does not appear to be any sort of danger to the public at this time,” Bowser said at a separate news conference.
All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated. Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and many other leaders of the Trump administration on a night when the nation is at war with Iran.
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