President Trump speaks at White House Correspondents’ Dinner after mass shooting
President Trump spoke at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after the shooting. One police officer was shot, but he said he survived because of his bulletproof vest.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump had been sitting on stage talking with other VIPs just minutes earlier when a series of loud bangs rippled through the packed Washington Hilton ballroom.
Chaos broke out at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, one of Washington’s major social events.
Guests in tuxedos and evening dresses crouched under tables. Secret Service agents rushed to the stage and quickly evacuated President Trump and first lady Melania Trump from the room. Banquet chairs fell over and maroon napkins were scattered on the floor. A strong smell of gunpowder was in the air. Some prayed.
Trump attended his first dinner as president in more than a decade and was returned to the White House. Later, still wearing a black tie and tuxedo, he told reporters at a news conference that he initially thought the loud bang was caused by a waiter dropping a tray.
“It was either a tray or a bullet,” he said. “I thought it was a tray, but it wasn’t.”
Law enforcement officials said a man with multiple weapons stormed a security checkpoint in the lobby outside a hotel ballroom on Saturday, April 25.. He was apprehended and arrested by Secret Service agents. FBI Director Kash Patel told reporters that a long gun and shell casings were found at the scene.
Reschedule within 30 days
The White House Correspondents Association, organizers of the Black Tiger Gala, canceled the banquet but announced it would reschedule it within 30 days.
This annual glitzy event brings together some of Washington’s most powerful people and the journalists who cover them. The dinner often attracts Hollywood celebrities, and dozens of parties are held across Washington prior to the event.
More than 3,000 people packed into a huge ballroom for this year’s dinner in the basement of the Washington Hilton, about a mile north of the White House.
The Hilton is the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was shot and killed in an assassination attempt by John Hinckley in 1981. Then-White House Press Secretary James Brady and several law enforcement officers were injured.
According to multiple reports, authorities identified the suspect in the shooting who attended the correspondents’ dinner as Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said he was taken to a local hospital and is currently being evaluated. He is believed to have been the only shooter, she said.
President Trump said one police officer was shot but survived because of his bulletproof vest.
“I spoke with the police officer and he is in very good condition,” Trump said. He said the officers were “in good spirits”.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told reporters that the suspect in custody is charged with two crimes, including use of a firearm in a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. He is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday, April 27th.
“Based on what we know so far, it is clear that this person had the intent to cause as much harm and damage as possible,” she said.
USA TODAY reporters said they heard what sounded like gunshots and the chanting of “USA” inside the ballroom.
Kerry Kennedy, the daughter of slain Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said she was knocked to the floor when she heard loud gunshots and cries of “Get down, get down, get down!”
One of his tablemates, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), “heroically protected me, whispering, ‘It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,'” Kennedy said on social media.
She said armed guards burst into the room and were looking for ministers to take them to safety.
Erin Thieleman, an Air Force veteran who was a guest at the dinner, said she saw the suspected gunman run through the hotel’s security checkpoint. She had left dinner and called her teenage son, who was babysitting his younger brothers.
“As soon as he stood up, I heard three loud gunshots and immediately saw the man face down,” Thielman told USA TODAY. “He was carrying a rifle and appeared to have a magazine rope hanging from it like a crossbody bag.”
Thielman said she remembered running back to the dinner party and yelling “guns, shooters, guns, shooters” and alerting security to close the banquet door.
President Trump has been the target of multiple assassination attempts.
On July 13, 2024, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a 20-year-old sniper armed with an AR-15-style rifle opened fire from the roof of a nearby building, wounding him. One of the bullets grazed President Trump’s right ear, and a 50-year-old retired firefighter who was in the crowd was killed in the shooting. Two other people in the crowd were also injured.
The gunman, Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Two months later, on September 15, 2024, a second would-be assassin targeted Trump while he was playing golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Secret Service agents found a rifle that had penetrated the course’s fenced perimeter. Investigators fired shots at the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, and pursued him.
Routh, 59, was later convicted in federal court of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in prison.
Asked why people continue to target him, Trump said at a White House press conference that would-be assassins target “the most influential people.”
“I don’t want to say it’s an honor, but I’ve done a lot. We’re trying to do something great, but it also comes with risks,” he said.
Being president, he said, is a more dangerous job than driving a race car or fighting bulls.
“I don’t think there’s any other job that’s more dangerous,” he says.
Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. He is a veteran reporter who has covered the White House and Congress. X: Follow him at @mcollinsNEWS.
