HIGHLIGHTS
- A tense incident at a major Washington hotel
- First-hand description from a prominent political figure
- Security response and immediate aftermath
- Questions around safety and motive
President Trump was rushed from the stage of a dinner hosted by the White House reporters’ association. Trump said a Secret Service agent was shot at but “saved” by his bulletproof vest. The F.B.I. said a suspect was in custody.
At the White House, Trump describes his mind-set after an evening of chaos.
Trump unhurt and suspect in custody after shots fired at White House correspondents’ dinner
What remains unclear following the shooting?
Whilst we’ve learnt details about how last night’s shooting unfolded, and the suspect allegedly behind it, there are questions yet to be answered about the incident:
Motive. Whilst the BBC’s US partner CBS News reports that the suspect told police he was targeting Trump’s team, law enforcement officials have said that the motive behind the shooting is yet to be confirmed
An officially named suspect. US media are reporting the suspect’s name as Cole Tomas Allen, but police haven’t identified the alleged gunman officially
How the suspect got past security. He was holding multiple weapons, according to local police, yet appears to have managed to run past the security cordon at the event, CCTV footage purportedly shows. Questions have been raised about security arrangements at the event
A rescheduled dinner date. The White House Correspondents’ Dinner will be rescheduled in the next 30 days, but it’s yet to be pinned to a specific date
Here’s the latest.
President Trump was rushed from the stage after gunfire broke out in the hotel where the White House correspondents’ dinner was being held on Saturday night. At a White House news conference a couple of hours later, Mr. Trump described an assailant carrying multiple weapons charging a security checkpoint before being taken into custody.
The president said a Secret Service officer had been shot but was saved by his bulletproof vest. Mr. Trump said the motive of the attacker — whom he said was believed to be a “lone wolf” — was not immediately clear.
New images of suspect being detained at scene
- We’ve just seen some new photos of the moments after the suspect of the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was detained by law enforcement.
- The images come from a video shared with Reuters news agency, who say they have verified the location and date of the footage.
Once again, a gunman gets perilously close to President Trump.
Once again, a gunman got perilously close to President Trump.
The storming of a security checkpoint on Saturday evening by an armed man at the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was the third time in three years that Mr. Trump had faced danger. During the 2024 campaign, he survived two assassination attempts, including a bullet grazing his ear in Butler, Pa.
In this case, the gunman rushed toward the ballroom where the president was dining with hundreds of journalists, government officials and guests, and drew fire from security forces before being taken into custody.
It is not yet known what the man’s motive was, but the outburst of violence is sure to revive questions about the scourge of political violence afflicting the United States, and about whether there is enough security around Mr. Trump, one of the most targeted presidents in history.
“It’s a dangerous profession,” Mr. Trump said afterward at the White House, referring to being a political leader. He compared his line of work to being a racecar driver or a bull rider, and said presidents were more likely to be shot at or killed.
“Nobody told me this was such a dangerous profession,” he said.
There were no metal detectors set up at the hotel’s entrances, and a secure perimeter was only established closer to the ballroom deeper inside the Washington Hilton. A security video posted by Mr. Trump showed the gunman sprinting past the security checkpoint before being captured short of the ballroom.
Mr. Trump said the incident underscored why he wanted to build a $400 million ballroom on White House grounds that he said would be equipped with the latest security features. That project is currently subject to litigation.
“It’s not a particularly secure building,” he said of the Hilton, before launching into a pitch for the necessity of his planned ballroom. “It’s bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom.”
On July 13, 2024, Mr. Trump became the first current or former U.S. president to face an assassination attempt since 1981, when a bullet nicked his ear while he was giving a speech in Butler.
The 20-year-old gunman was able to fire several shots at Mr. Trump before the Secret Service returned fire and killed the shooter. But the fact that he came so close to killing Mr. Trump prompted immediate demands for changes at the Secret Service. The agency’s competence was called into question.
Mr. Trump on Saturday praised the response by the Secret Service and other agencies, and credited the counter-sniper who killed the gunman in Butler. “He hit him right between the eyes from 400 yards without any notice,” Mr. Trump said, adding: “If he didn’t do that, beyond me, you would have had a lot more people killed.”
Then, on Sept. 15, 2024, a man armed with a rifle hid in the shrubbery at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, plotting to shoot Mr. Trump.
The suspect, Ryan Routh, was convicted of attempted assassination and sentenced to life in prison.
Asked on Saturday why he believed he was so often the target of violence, Mr. Trump said it was because of the consequential nature of his presidency.
“I studied assassinations, and I must tell you the most impactful, the people that do the most” are targeted, Mr. Trump said, adding: “The people that do the most, the people that make the biggest impact — they’re the ones that they go after.”
Chaos as gunfire heard in Washington DC ballroom
- An event that convenes some of America’s most high-profile politicians, diplomats and journalists descended into chaos on Saturday night,as gunfire was heard inside a Washington DC hotel.
- The pictures that have emerged from the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner are striking.
- Before the shots rang out, Donald Trump was seated next to US First Lady Melania Trump and Weijia Jiang, President of the White House Correspondents’ Association
- Trump is rushed off stage by Secret Service agents as heavily armed officers survey the scene
Attendees – including House Speaker Mike Johnson – are taken out of the ballroom
- Trump later releases a photo of a handcuffed man laying on the floor surrounded by Secret Service agents, saying this is the alleged gunman
This isn’t the first time Trump has been at the scene of a shooting
- Trump during his rally in July 2024, after he was shot in an attempted assasination
- We still haven’t received an official update on the suspect’s motive. Whilst police have said this remains unclear, the BBC’s US partner, CBS News, reports that the alleged gunman told authorities he was targeting officials linked to the Trump administration.
- Following the shooting incident at last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the US president was asked by a journalist: why do you think this keeps happening to you?
- There have been various security incidents in the past few years involving Trump.
- In July 2024, he was shot in his right ear at during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He chanted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as he was ushered off stage by security. One person in the crowd died.
- Months later in September 2024, the then-former president was rushed to safety after a suspected gunman was spotted hiding in the bushes of his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Trump, in his own words, was “safe and well”.
- The most recent incident before last night was in February 2026. An armed man was shot dead after entering the secure perimeter of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. The president was in Washington DC at the time.
- “The people that make the biggest impact, they’re the ones they go after. They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much,” Trump said in answer to the journalist today.
In addition to the known attempts on Mr. Trump’s life, he has faced other threats. Federal prosecutors have said that Iranian agents plotted to kill Mr. Trump in retaliation for the killing by the United States during Mr. Trump’s first term of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, who helped lead Iran’s terrorism campaign.
The president is the highest-profile target of political violence, but the threats for years have affected officeholders at local, state and federal levels. The violence has taken the lives of members of both major political parties.
There was the mass shooting in 2017 of Republicans at a congressional baseball practice that nearly killed Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana. And there was the assassination last year of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Democrats are also often under threat. There were the killings in Minnesota of a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband; the arson attack on the home of Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania; a hammer assault on the husband of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi; the shootings at a Kamala Harris campaign office in Arizona.
There was also the Jan. 6, 2021, pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol that injured roughly 150 police officers.
Threats against members of Congress from both parties have skyrocketed.
Mr. Trump on Saturday acknowledged the atmosphere.
“In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts to resolving our differences peacefully,” he said.
Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, said the incident Saturday put on display the “very worst and the very best of this country.”
“You saw the very worst by the actions of that coward, that coward that the president just talked about. But you also saw the very best, because you saw law enforcement do exactly what they’re supposed to do,” he said. In the videos of the incident, he added, “you’ll see law enforcement do exactly what we want them to do.”
Mr. Trump was asked whether he would change how he functioned, given how frequently he has been targeted. He said that he tries not to think about the dangers of the job.
“We’re going to reschedule,” he said of the dinner that was abruptly canceled. “We’re going to do it again. We’re not going to let anybody take over our society. We’re not going to cancel things out.”
In the Los Angeles suburb where records show Mr. Allen lived in a modest, two story tract home, news crews and neighbors gathered Saturday night on darkened sidewalks as police helicopters circled overhead. F.B.I. agents arrived later, joining local police outside the house in Torrance.
In the driveway, two Hondas were parked beside a bright blue motor scooter that neighbors said Mr. Allen used to run errands. “This is a quiet neighborhood, lots of retired LAPD,” said James Costello, 53, a prop master who knew the Allen family well enough to say hello, but not much more. “That’s why we moved here. We were told it was super, super safe.”
Inside the confusion and fright at the Washington Hilton.
The spring pea and burrata appetizer course had been distributed and the schmoozing hour of Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had begun when a small commotion occurred toward the back of the Washington Hilton ballroom shortly past 8:30 p.m.
It might have been an upturned catering cart, or perhaps a scuffle with protesters. Then security officers began sprinting down the aisles toward the elevated dais, where President Trump, along with Vice President JD Vance and the first lady, Melania Trump, had taken their seats just a few minutes earlier.
A California man is in custody in connection with the shooting, Trump says.
April 25, 2026, 11:26 p.m. ET
A California man was in custody in connection with the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, President Trump said during a news conference Saturday night.
The man in custody has not been identified publicly by the authorities, but two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said that he is Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif. The officials asked to remain anonymous because they had not been authorized to disclose the information.
At least some of the night’s afterparties are still set to continue. The Time Magazine party at the Residence of the Swiss Ambassador will proceed, according to organizers. Richard Hudock, a spokesman for MS NOW, wrote in a text message that its event at Dupont Underground would go on, too.
“While tonight’s event won’t be what we originally intended, we still think it is important to provide a space for friends and colleagues to be together,” he said.
A California man is in custody in connection with the shooting, Trump says.
Shortly after the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner began on Saturday around 8 p.m., a gunman was confronted and tackled by law enforcement officers near a security checkpoint of the Washington Hilton.
A security video posted online by President Trump showed the man running past a security checkpoint, with a swarm of law enforcement officials in pursuit. The man taken into custody was Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., according to multiple law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose the information.
April 25, 2026, 9:31 p.m
Pete Hegseth, looking stricken, was cutting a path through the mobbed hallways of the Hilton just now, descending deeper into the bowels of the hotel even as the White House press pool was being pulled out into the president’s motorcade as he got ready to depart.
April 25, 2026, 9:18 p.m
I’m one of the small number of journalists traveling with the White House press pool tonight. We were in a hall just outside the ballroom when the commotion first rang out.
Several things happened in quick succession. Tuxedoed agents pulled out guns and began running toward the ballroom. White-jacketed caterers screamed and bolted for stairwells. Pandemonium reigned as top cabinet officials were evacuated.
Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Cheryl Hines, came out and were ushered into an elevator. Then Jeanine Pirro emerged. The F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, came tearing across the hallway with two men in tow; his girlfriend was hiding in a room with another man who was holding her hand. Reporters are about to be taken back into the ballroom. The show will go on, apparently.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “is fine and has left the dinner,” according to his closest aide, Stefanie Spear.
Inside the ballroom, people dove to the floor and hid under tables and behind chairs as armed agents rushed into the ballroom.
Donald Trump Live: Trump calls suspect ‘sick person’, confirms capture; raids on
US President Donald Trump said the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting has been captured, adding that authorities are conducting searches at locations linked to him, including an apartment in California. Calling the attacker a “sick person,” Trump also said the event will be held again within the next 30 days, promising it will be “bigger, better, and even nicer.”
