President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington by Secret Service agents on Saturday night after a man opened fire on security personnel nearby.
The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested. Trump told reporters at a hastily arranged briefing at the White House later that the officer was saved by his bulletproof vest and is in “good shape.”
It was not immediately clear whether Trump was the target of the attack, though he told reporters he believed that he was. The president has survived two previous attempts on his life since 2024, a period of deepening political polarization in the United States.
SUSPECT THOUGHT TO BE ‘LONE WOLF,’ TRUMP SAYS
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a Los Angeles-area resident about 31 years of age. Little was immediately known about Allen’s background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, California near Los Angeles.
Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but it was too soon to say what his motivation was, Carroll said.
Based on preliminary information, he was believed to have been a guest at the hotel, Carroll added.
A focus of the investigation is likely to be how the gunman was able to smuggle the shotgun into the hotel, which hosts the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, a marquee fixture of Washington’s social calendar.
The black-tie event was attended by many members of Trump’s cabinet and other senior administration officials amid heavy security. It was the first time Trump was attending the event as president, having boycotted it in previous years.
Afterward, Trump addressed reporters, many still in evening attire, in an extraordinary late-night press conference in the White House briefing room, flanked by members of his cabinet and Vice President JD Vance. His wife Melania looked on from the sidelines and demurred when he asked her whether she wanted to talk about the events of the evening.
Reuters
