WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was reported uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries, and one law-enforcement official said a shooter opened fire.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.
The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the AP.
An officer was shot in bullet-resistant vest at correspondents’ dinner but is expected to be OK, a law enforcement official said.
White House correspondents’ association president Weijia Jiang says everyone safe after shooting incident and the event will be rescheduled.
The president, who had repeatedly said he wanted to continue the dinner until law enforcement said otherwise, insisted that the dinner would be rescheduled and would happen. He stressed that the event will be “better” and “we’ll make it safer.”
“I see so many tuxedos and beautiful dresses,” Trump said. “It was a little different evening than we thought. But we’re going to do it again.”
Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five to eight shots fired. 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. Security outside was also extremely tight.
It was not immediately clear what happened. A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter but no further details were immediately available.
Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump, describing what was going through his mind as the shots rang out, said he initially believed it was a tray being dropped, noting that the noise was “quite far away.” But the first lady, he said, was “very cognizant” that it was a shooting.
“I think she knew immediately what happened,” the president said, recalling that his wife told him, “that’s a bad noise.”
The president said the motivation of the shooter was unclear, but said that “he was a guy who looked pretty evil when he was down.”
>> The Associated Press is contributing to this report.