Donald and Melania Trump were evacuated from the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday evening after the event was interrupted by loud gunshots.
A suspect was in custody, the FBI said, after the annual black tie dinner honoring the White House press corps in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton was suddenly interrupted by confusion and chaos. Journalists ducked under tables as authorities rushed the president and members of his cabinet out of the room.
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”.
The FBI confirmed on Saturday that a suspect was apprehended, and the Secret Service said in a statement that the shooting incident occurred near the main magnetometer screening area at the hotel.
In a press briefing from the White House later Saturday evening, Trump called the suspect “a sick person” and said the hotel was “not a particularly secure building”.
“That was very unexpected but incredibly acted upon by Secret Service and law enforcement, and this was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press,” he said. “And in a certain way, it did, because the fact that they just unified. I saw a room that was just totally unified.
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 in the next 30 days.
“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. Eventually, the entire room emptied as attendees were told the event would not resume and 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.
The Washington Hilton is the same hotel where Ronald Reagan was shot and gravely wounded by a would-be assassin in 1981.
