The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is one of Washington’s enduring, if somewhat awkward, rituals.
There is inherent tension in the room, with journalists dressed in finery sharing drinks and food with many of the subjects they cover. That friction was starkly evident this year given President Donald Trump’s often contentious relationship with the media.
That ritual was wildly upended Saturday night when a gunman charged the premises, trying to penetrate the hotel ballroom where Trump and Cabinet secretaries were assembled. They were spirited out unharmed and the crowd of 2,300 hunkered down in gasps, confusion, broken plates and spilled wine.
Wait, was that the sound of a gunshot? Trump wondered. Or did some waiter just drop a tray? “I was hoping it was a tray,” Trump said. “But it wasn’t.”
Oz Pearlman, the mentalist enlisted as the evening’s entertainer, was performing a magic trick for Trump on stage as shots rang out outside the ballroom, he told The Associated Press, which had two dozen journalists there.
Trump had boycotted previous dinners as president. It was apparent, going into the dinner, that he had things he wanted to say about the media coverage he seems to revile even as it supplies him with oxygen. “I was really ready to rip it,” he said later at the White House.
In cocktail receptions before the dinner, attendees speculated about who would face Trump’s ire and whether he would stick around for the presentation of journalism awards, including a prize for Wall Street Journal reporters who spotlighted Trump’s relationship with disgraced sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
All of that was on plenty of minds as the audience started on spring pea and burrata salad and waiters prepared to serve a main course starring prime chateaubriand and Maine lobster.
A shout of ‘shots fired’
The atmosphere then took a dramatic, fearful turn.
Those seated closest to the doors were the first to respond as security officials shouted “Shots fired.” People ducked under tables and chairs, knocking over table settings.
“I heard a pop, but we didn’t know what the hell it was,” said Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. “And then you heard all sorts of things clatter. Then the Secret Service and every detail came flooding in and everybody went down. I took a knee. … I didn’t go under the table.”
The commotion spread almost as a wave toward the stage. For a few moments it appeared as though Trump was a spectator to the disarray, before he, too, was whisked away by his security detail.
As Trump told it, his wife “knew immediately what happened,” while he did not. Melania Trump told him “that’s a bad noise,” he said later.
Up front, the gunshots were not immediately distinguishable in the cacophony. Heavily armed Secret Service agents flooded the stage and a broad collection of law enforcement and National Guard descended on the hotel.
Vice President JD Vance was the first to be pulled off stage. Trump and the first lady were initially shielded by his detail behind armored plating placed on the stage. After a few moments the Trumps were also removed from the room. The president briefly stumbled before being assisted to a secure suite reserved for him behind the stage.
In response to shouts for everyone to get down, one administration official at a media table crawled under it, with just her high heels poking out.
Security agents fished VIPs from the crowd, among them Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and senior White House advisers Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino. Someone tried to start a “U.S.A” chant as Trump was taken out, before being shushed by others in the room.
Erika Kirk, widow of assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was seen in tears as she was escorted from the ballroom. Others in the crowd traded hugs as they were leaving the event site. It was quickly clear that there were no serious injuries in the room.
Suspect ran past barricades before being tackled
Police said the suspect had a shotgun, a handgun and knives, and stormed the lobby, running past security barricades as Secret Service agents raced toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was tackled and taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital.
The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.
Some guests had fled the ballroom immediately through the warren of hallways surrounding it. Staff directed people to emergency exits. Outside, guests had to walk for blocks to get outside of streets blocked by police vehicles. Helicopters hovered.
Trump remained at the hotel for some time. It was a secure site that was set up at the Washington Hilton after the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan occurred as he was leaving the same hotel.
Trump was itching for the dinner to proceed once security had been reestablished. Hotel staff was refolding napkins, refilling water glasses and aides adjusted the teleprompter for his remarks. But he deferred to security protocols and insisted the event would be rescheduled for sometime in the coming 30 days.
Back at the White House late in the evening, he said his piece.
“When you’re impactful they go after you,” said Trump, the subject of two assassination attempts. “I’m not a basket case.”
He added about the night and the interrupted gala: “I see so many tuxedos and beautiful dresses. It was a little different evening than we thought. But we’re going to do it again.”
