Shots Fired at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, U.S. President Survives

AP

U.S. Secret Service agents respond near President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, 25 April 2026, in Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump was swiftly escorted off the stage by Secret Service after possible shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday.

Vice President JD Vance and several members of the Trump Administration who were also in attendance were also rushed out.

The president was uninjured and was rushed off the stage. The armed man, who officials said was a guest at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was being held, was taken into custody and was expected in court Monday. Police believe he opened fire and acted alone but did not say who was his intended target or describe a motive.

“When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” President Trump said at the White House two hours later. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”

Several U.S. Secret Service agents yelled, “shots fired” during the event, which is being held at the Washington Hilton, according to pool reports.

Secret Service later said in a post on X that one person is in custody.

President Trump took to the Truth Social to share that a “shooter has been apprehended” and applaud Secret Service and law enforcement officers for acting “quickly and bravely.”

In a subsequent post a few minutes later, the president said he is returning to the White House after law enforcement officials requested that he leave the location. He added that he will give a press conference momentarily.

The suspect arrested in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting on Saturday was identified by a law enforcement official as Cole Tomas Allen, a Los Angeles-area man who appears from social media sites to be a Caltech graduate working as a part-time ‌teacher and game developer.

The official said Allen, approximately 31 years of age, is a resident of Torrance, California, a coastal town that is part of the South Bay area adjacent to Los Angeles abutting Santa Monica Bay.

The chief of the District of Columbia police department said investigators believe the suspect was a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, ⁠where the annual dinner was taking place, but that no motive had been determined.

The Secret Service said the suspect was armed with a shotgun and was taken into custody after opening fire ⁠at a Secret Service agent in the Washington Hilton Hotel, outside the ballroom where the event was attended by President Donald Trump, his wife Melania, Vice President JD Vance and several cabinet secretaries.

President Trump has survived two prior assassination attempts, both during his 2024 campaign. Both exposed Secret Service failures that prompted investigations and leadership purges at the agency.

Sources: Reuters, CNN, AP, Axios



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