A gunman who tried to charge a Washington dinner attended by Donald Trump was “a lone wolf whack job”, the US president has said.
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night (March 25) saw Trump – who has previously been the target of an assassination attempt – evacuated by Secret Service agents along with other senior members of the administration.
Hundreds of guests hid under tables in the ballroom as agents with guns drawn rushed reporters out of the room and mentioned “shots fired”.
One officer, who was shot but said to have been protected by his bulletproof vest, was taken to hospital, per The Independent.
The suspect, said to have been carrying a shotgun and handgun, is understood to have been a guest in the Washington Hilton hotel where the event was being held. Law enforcement officials have told The Associated Press that he faces two firearm-related charges, including a count of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.
Following the chaotic incident, the President posted pictures on his Truth Social platform of the alleged assailant handcuffed on the ground, and vowed to reschedule the disrupted event at a late-night press conference following the shooting, which he said had “unified” political opponents and the media.
President Trump was rushed off of the stage by Secret Service at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
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— AF Post (@AFpost) April 26, 2026
Trump, who was attending the annual dinner for the first time as President, said: “My impression is he was a lone wolf whack job. These are crazy people.” He went on to praise the efforts of the Secret Service and said the gunman was not close to breaching the ballroom where he sat on stage at the time of the incident.
He added: “I saw a room that was just totally unified. It was, in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing.
“To see a man charge a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service, and they acted very quickly.”
He added: “It is always shocking when something like this happens.”
The armed assault comes just days before the state visit by the King and Queen, where they are due to meet Trump and attend a White House banquet.
The Washington Hilton has been the location of a previous attempted presidential assassination when then-president Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr outside the hotel in 1981.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were evacuated out of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner minutes after it began, as attendees took cover on the floor. USA TODAY reporters inside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel say they heard loud… pic.twitter.com/wsaAi22p3K
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 26, 2026
Among the Trump administration officials attending the event were Vice President JD Vance, White House Deputy Chief of Policy Stephen Miller, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, and Erika Kirk, the CEO of Turning Point USA.
There were numerous reports that Kirk was seen to be visibly shaken by the incident, which came seven months after her husband, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed last year during an appearance at a Utah university.