The White House correspondents’ dinner was interrupted by loud bangs on Saturday evening and Donald Trump and Melania Trump were evacuated immediately as many journalists and their guests ducked under tables in the Washington Hilton ballroom.
There were reports that the US Secret Service had guns drawn as White House pool reporters were rushed out of the room and Secret Service agents yelled “shots fired”.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised Secret Service and law enforcement and said the shooter had been apprehended. He said he was waiting for a decision about whether the event would continue.
The Secret Service said in a statement that the shooting incident occurred near the main magnetometer screening area at the hotel, and that one individual is in custody.
Weijia Jang, president of the White House correspondents’ dinner, told the room that the president is planning a press conference from the White House later Saturday and that he wants to reschedule the dinner, which occurs annually to celebrate the White House press corps.
“Thank God everyone is safe, and thank you for coming together tonight,” she said. “We will do this again.”
Guardian reporters in the room said there were initially mixed messages about whether press and guests should stay in the room. Many people who stayed in the ballroom said the program was scheduled to resume, although the presidential seal was removed from the podium.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reported that he saw someone with a gun at the event.
“I did see the gunman on the ground after he started shooting,” he said. “Police officers threw him to the ground.”
Guests had just started eating dinner when the commotion began. The atmosphere in the room was tense as journalists waited to hear what happened and what to do next.
Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, who was attending the dinner said he never saw a shooter, but “I think a Secret Service agent threw me to the ground and on top of some other people and people were screaming and yelling”.
“I heard some loud noises but I don’t know if that was people reacting or if that was something outside, it was hard to know, but people very quickly were saying that was a shot, that was the gunshot,” he added. “People were terrified; people seem to be relieved now.”
Outside the hotel, helicopters circled overhead.
This year’s dinner was already tense given the presence of Trump and top members of his cabinet, including Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state. Trump agreed to attend this year’s dinner after refusing to attend last year and during his first term. The correspondents’ dinner tradition began in 1921, though the tradition of a presidential guest started in 1924, when Calvin Coolidge attended.
