Washington shooting: What we know so far | Donald Trump News

United States President Donald Trump has been rushed out of the White House correspondents dinner at a hotel in Washington, DC, after a gunman fired shots and tried to breach security.

The president, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s cabinet members were unharmed in the shooting at the Washington Hilton hotel.

A Secret Service agent was hit but was protected by a bullet-resistant vest. Trump said he was in “great shape”.

The White House said the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California, is in custody. Trump said he was heavily armed and appeared to be acting alone.

The White House correspondents dinner will be rescheduled in 30 days, he said.

Here’s what to know about the shooting and the suspect:

What happened to Trump?

The president was to speak at the White House Correspondents’ Association ‌dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.

The dinner is an annual event at which journalists who cover the White House celebrate the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which ensures the freedom of speech and the press, and raise money for journalism scholarships. The president and other US leaders also generally attend.

But the gala was interrupted by the sound of gunfire, and Secret Service agents rushed the president out of the room and the hotel.

A man armed with a shotgun had fired at a Secret Service agent, an FBI official told the Reuters news agency. The agent was hit but in an area ⁠covered by protective gear and was unharmed, the official said.

US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi later told reporters that the officer had been released from hospital.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Chris Sheridan said everyone was eating and socialising at the dinner and suddenly shots were heard.

“I thought it sounded like it came from behind where we were sitting, but it was quite loud. It was an echo. Quite a loud boom of at least five shots, which resonated throughout the ballroom just outside where we were,” he said.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher also described unusual events at the White House, where the president addressed the media, who all arrived straight from the dinner.

“We don’t often get the president stepping from an assassination attempt, which is what it appears like on the face of it now, into the briefing room to give the media an update with everyone in their finest clothes,” he reported from Washington, DC.

The Hilton hotel is no stranger to assassination attempts after John Hinckley Jr’s attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan there in 1981. That event is perhaps what the hotel is most famous for and not the annual White House correspondents dinner.

Fisher said Trump seemed quite taken aback by the shooting.

“He himself initially had thought a tray had been dropped or it was gunfire, and the Secret Service agent spirited him out of the hall along with the first lady and other members of the cabinet,” he said.

He noted that Trump had made it clear that he wanted to continue the event, but the Secret Service wouldn’t allow it.

Is Trump safe?

All US federal officials, including Trump, have been declared safe.

About an hour after Trump was rushed from the event, he posted on his Truth Social platform that a “shooter had been apprehended”.

“Quite an evening in DC, Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job,” Trump wrote.

Trump said he had been asked to leave the dinner and said it will be rescheduled.

“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition,” he said. “I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days.”

Addressing reporters a short time later, Trump lauded the bravery of the Secret Service agent who he said “was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job”.

“I just spoke to the officer, and he’s doing great. He’s in great shape. He is in very high spirits, and we told him we love him and respect him,” he said.

Who is the suspected gunman?

The New York Times and CBS News identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen.

Washington, DC, interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll told reporters the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. Carroll added that he has been taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but it was too soon to say what his motivation was.

Based on preliminary information, Carroll said the suspect was believed to have been a guest at the hotel.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Richard Gaisford said authorities have not released the name of the suspect in custody but various news reports have identified him.

“It appears this was gleaned from the information he gave when he checked in to the Washington Hilton before this event. He had a room at the hotel and is being named as Cole Tomas Allen from a place called Torrance in California. He is 31 years old,” he said.

“We saw that video of him rushing that police line, in effect to try and get into the ballroom, where, of course, Donald Trump was sat close to his wife, Melania, and other members of the cabinet and all of the members of the press who were gathered for the White House correspondents dinner there,” he added.

Gaisford noted that in some of the pictures, the gunman is almost half-naked because he was stripped by police to ensure he wasn’t carrying any form of explosive device.

Trump described him as a “sick” man.

“The man has been captured. They go into his apartment. I guess he lives in California, and he’s a sick person, a very sick person. And we don’t want things like this to happen,” the US president told reporters.

He added that the events were traumatic for the first lady and the response from law enforcement agencies was “really incredible”.

“We’re going to reschedule. We’re gonna do it again. We’re not gonna let anybody take over our society. We’re not gonna cancel things out.”

Todd Blanche, acting attorney general, told journalists that the investigation is ongoing.

“I expect you will see charges filed shortly. The charges should be self-evident, given the conduct, but as you’ll hear, there will be multiple charges surrounding the shooting, the possession of firearms and anything else that we can get on this guy,” Blanche said.

Has Trump been attacked in the past?

Trump has faced numerous assassination attempts and death threats throughout his years as president and as a presidential candidate.

The closest call came in July 2024 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman got onto a nearby rooftop with a direct line of sight to then-candidate Trump as he spoke on stage. A bystander was killed, and Trump was wounded in the ear. Agents shot dead the suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, at the scene.

Two months later, an armed man hid near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida with the intent to kill him, according to officials. Prosecutors said Ryan Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump for weeks before aiming a rifle through the shrubbery as the president played golf. A Secret Service agent spotted Routh before he was able to open fire, and he was soon arrested nearby. Routh was found guilty last year of attempting to kill the president and was sentenced to life in prison in February.

Also in February, a 21-year-old man, Austin Tucker Martin, was shot dead after entering Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with a shotgun, but the president was not there.