U.S. President Donald Trump was whisked to safety after a shooting broke out during the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner at the Washington Hilton on the 25th local time. It was the first time Trump had attended the dinner as a sitting president.
According to major outlets, at about 8:30 p.m. gunshots rang out in the hallway outside the Washington Hilton ballroom where the dinner was being held. An armed assailant approached up to the metal detector at the ballroom entrance before being subdued by Secret Service agents. Law enforcement officials told CBS that "the shooter has been taken into custody." Security authorities said the shooting suspect arrested at the scene is a man in his 30s from California.
When the shots were fired, Secret Service agents immediately moved President Trump and first lady Melania to a secure location. Security agents armed with rifles were quickly deployed on the stage. At the same time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Director Mehmet Oz, and House Republican Whip Steve Scalise also exited the hall under guard. Attendees inside the ballroom hid under round tables draped with white tablecloths.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer said, "As soon as we heard the gunshots in the hallway, a police officer pushed me to the floor and covered me." Anchor Jake Tapper also said, "In an instant, Secret Service agents rushed into the corridor and people dove under the tables."
Trump posted on his Truth Social account shortly after he was moved to a secure location. "It was a fantastic evening in Washington, D.C. The Secret Service and law enforcement did a great job. They acted swiftly and bravely," he wrote. He added, "The shooter has been arrested, and I recommended that 'the show must go on.' However, I will fully follow the judgment of law enforcement." At the end of his post, Trump said, "Whatever decision is made, tonight will be quite different from the original plan. In the end, we will likely have to hold this event again."
Trump did not leave the building entirely and remained in a secure area, Fox News reported, citing a White House official. According to an administration official, Trump wanted to return to the ballroom, but the Secret Service dissuaded him.
The dinner briefly resumed without the presidential couple. Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) and a CBS reporter, announced from the podium that "the program will resume shortly." Jiang said, "The Secret Service currently has control of this hotel," and noted that she had spoken with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser and Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Jeffrey Carroll.
However, the Secret Service and other judicial authorities determined that because the shooting occurred near the event's main security checkpoint, "it is unavoidable under security protocols to halt the event immediately for additional threat assessment and to preserve the scene."
The Washington Hilton, where the incident occurred, is the same hotel where President Ronald Reagan was shot and suffered a punctured lung by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981, leaving him in critical condition. For the first time in 45 years, a sitting president again faced a shooting threat at the same location. Trump was targeted in two assassination attempts, once at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., in July 2024, and again at his home golf course in Florida in September of the same year.
As for the shooter's identity, authorities disclosed only that the suspect is a man in his 30s from California. The motive has not yet been made public. The Secret Service and the Ministry of Justice said shortly after the incident that there were no additional threats.