The White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night was upended by gunshots, prompting the immediate evacuation of Donald and Melania Trump.
Hundreds of guest including many senior government officials and journalists at the Washington Hilton ballroom hid under tables as US Secret Service agents with guns drawn rushed White House pool reporters out of the room and mentioned “shots fired”.
Jeff Carroll, the interim chief of police of the Metropolitan police department, said a suspect “charged a US Secret Service checkpoint” at the Washington Hilton armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He appeared to have been a “lone” gunman, he said
Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser said the suspect was taken to a local hospital where he was being “evaluated”. “We have no reason to believe at this time that anyone else was involved,” she said.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbiasaid the defendant has been charged with felony firearms and assault charges.
A law enforcement official told the Associated Press that an officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest, but is expected to be OK. Carroll, the DC police chief, said the investigation was “preliminary” but that investigators believed the suspect did fire a shot. Carroll said the suspect was not shot.
Trump rescheduled the dinner, posting on Truth Social later on Saturday: “The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days.”
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said he was within a few feet of the shooter, and called into CNN to describe his observations. Blitzer said he saw “a very, very serious weapon. He starts shooting, and I happened to have been a few feet away from him. As he was shooting, of course, the first thing that went through my mind: is he trying to shoot me? And I don’t think he was trying to shoot me, but I was very close to him as the gunshots were fired and he was very very scary. But I’m OK, now.”
