Correspondents' dinner shooting suspect a 'sick person,' Trump says

'It was unreal': interior the shot incident at the edward white domiciliate correspondents' dinner

Trump calls U.S. Presidency a ‘dangerous profession’

'It was unreal': Inside the shooting incident at the White House correspondents' dinner

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Trump posts security video of suspect running in hotel

Police, federal law enforcement speak and take questions about gunfire at correspondents' dinner

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Trump set to attend White House Correspondents' Dinner | Hanomansing Tonight

U.S. Law enforcement are reassessing Trump's security arrangements. 

Two former Secret Service agents and three senior U.S. Officials told Reuters that Saturday's event underscored some vulnerabilities, even after two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024 prompted stronger security measures. 

The officials said security personnel ​may need to expand the protective perimeter around the president at large public venues, even if that leads to public inconvenience.

Bill Gage, who served on the Secret Service's Counter Assault Team for six years and is now executive protection director for the SafeHaven Security Group, said the Secret Service "is going to have to find a way to better secure ⁠large hotels that may inconvenience the hotelgoers and the hotel."

Some officials noted the security perimeter at Trump's rallies is often much more expansive than the one established on Saturday.

Don Mihalek, a former senior Secret Service agent who has worked previous correspondents' dinners at the Washington Hilton, said securing the sprawling site has long posed challenges.

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told ABC News's This Week with George Stephanopoulos that Allen will be formally charged in federal court on Monday with assault of a federal officer and use of a firearm during a crime of violence. 

Forty-five years ago, a U.S. President was shot outside the same hotel where Saturday's White House Correspondents’ Association dinner took place.

Ronald Reagan was hit in the chest by a ricocheting bullet fired by John Hinckley Jr. On March 30, 1981, while he was walking to his limousine after giving a speech at the Washington Hilton hotel.

Three others were wounded in the shooting that sent Reagan to hospital for 12 days with a punctured lung and a broken rib.

Hinckley attacked Reagan in a bid to impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he had developed an obsession with. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. 

Hinckley was held in a psychiatric facility until his release in 2016. 

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson has confirmed King Charles will go ahead with his visit to the U.S. Tomorrow.

A spokesperson said earlier that the palace was in talks with U.S. Officials to assess whether the shooting would affect "operational planning" for the upcoming state visit. 

The White House Correspondents' Association, which represents journalists who cover the White House, issued a statement expressing its "deepest gratitude" to the U.S. Secret Service and law enforcement and wishing a "full and speedy recovery" to the injured officer. 

"Our dinner exists to celebrate the First Amendment and the hard daily work of the journalists who defend it," the statement reads. "Last night, those journalists showed exactly the kind of calm and courage that work demands, jumping into reporting immediately after the incident unfolded. We are proud of everyone in that room."

The White House Correspondents' dinner is an annual tradition meant to raise funds for scholarships and celebrate the First Amendment. It was founded in 1914 and Calvin Coolidge became the first president to attend in 1924.

Trump broke with tradition by avoiding the dinner during his entire first term in office, but decided to attend this year's event. 

Family members of the suspect alerted police in Connecticut before yesterday's dinner due to concerns with something he had written, Trump said in an interview on Fox News Sunday. 

The president claimed that the suspect had written about targeting U.S. Administration officials. 

Police officers who interviewed Allen's relatives also examined his electronic devices and writings, and believe he meant to target the Trump administration in attendance at the dinner. 

That was in line with statements made by acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, who told NBC that it appeared Allen had set out to "target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president."

Blanche said the accused is not being co-operative with law enforcement and is expected to face several charges on Monday. 

Reuters

Trump said ‌in an interview ​on Sunday ​on Fox News' The Sunday Briefing ​that the ⁠suspected ⁠shooter was stopped by ‌law enforcement and didn't come close to ​entering ⁠the ballroom ⁠where ⁠the ⁠event ​was taking place.

Police, federal law enforcement speak and take questions about gunfire at correspondents' dinner

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser appeared alongside the local police chief and federal law enforcement officials, including FBI and Secret Service representatives, to provide details on the shooting incident, the investigation and what's expected following the shooting incident at the gala dinner.

The suspect was armed with "a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives," said Washington interim police chief Jeffrey Carroll at a news conference Saturday night. 

He said Allen is believed to have been a "lone actor," but that it was too soon to determine what his motivation was. 

Carroll said police officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, though he was not hurt in the incident. 

Allen purchased the shotgun eight months ago and a semi-automatic pistol about two years earlier, according to Bloomberg, which cited a law enforcement intelligence profile. 

A profile with a name matching the suspect's name on Steam, a digital PC gaming distribution platform, lists one game released in 2018. 

Bohrdom, described on its store page as an "atomic fighting game," allows players to take on the role of colourful emotive subatomic particles as they shoot and dodge photons.

"If you love chemistry or physics, you'll probably enjoy this. If you hate chemistry or physics... You'll still probably enjoy this," reads the game's description. 

According to Steamdb, a site that independently tracks player counts on Steam games, Bohrdom saw only one or two players since its release until a small spike in the dozens of players since Saturday night.

About 90 user reviews and comments were posted over the past day, with some posting Trump meme photos, comments related to the shooting and serious reviews. 

"Real boring, makes you feel like bringing a rifle to a press correspondence dinner," said one reviewer. 

"This should have been a hit game, but the developer never hit the bullseye," said another.

'It was unreal': Inside the shooting incident at the White House correspondents' dinner

It's Paul Hunter in Washington — I was at the dinner last night. 

My table was at the back of the ballroom right by where it all happened. The ballroom doors were directly behind us and had been kept open as the night's program began, with Trump at the head table up front. 

All of a sudden came multiple, super-loud, POP POP POP sounds from just outside those doors. Quite clearly rapid gunfire. I mean it was LOUD.

But my first thought was "This can't be real," that it must be some sort of ill-advised skit or joke. Because the president was here. There's no way it's real.

For a split second everyone sat, stunned. But then people started shouting, "Shooter! Shooter! Get down! Get down!" and it instantly sank in.

Pandemonium followed. Everyone diving under tables, chairs being knocking over. Complete mayhem. 

Behind me was a thick, concrete column. I hid behind it, seeing my colleagues from Radio-Canada across the way crouching under our table. All I was thinking was, "What will happen now?"

Quite honestly I wondered whether a bunch of masked shooters would now come through those doors and start spraying the room with gunfire. Is everyone outside those open doors behind us now dead? Will people around me get shot? Will I get shot? Is my hiding place safe? 

I looked up at the stage and saw Trump already long gone. Then someone near me shouted out that there could be a shooter in the room. No one knew anything. Secret Service agents had meanwhile flooded the front of the room, which added to the surreality of it all. 

How could there be so many of them? And how did they move so quickly? I watched them race toward all the senior politicos sitting at the tables up front, including multiple cabinet secretaries.

Earlier in the evening I'd spotted Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. And with Trump and Vice-President JD Vance at the head table, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth nearby, suffice to say it was a supreme power room.

As things quietened, those cabinet secretaries and other senior politicos were rushed past where we were then standing and effectively pushed out of the room, Secret Service agents surrounding each of them. I happened to notice Kash Patel, head of the FBI, moving directly past our table. It all seemed like madness. Like a bad Hollywood movie. 

Then for what seemed ages we were all left in lockdown, wondering what was going on outside the now closed doors. Eventually we were allowed out only to see a wall of police cars, lights flashing, outside the hotel front door. It was a long walk home.

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