Shooting at dinner attended by Donald and Melania, attacker arrested; Trump: 'He looked pretty evil'

(Patria) - Secret Service agents pushed US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania out of the White House Correspondents' Dinner last night after a man opened fire with a shotgun at security personnel.

According to CNN, the arrested suspect has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen (31) from California.

"The attacker fired at a Secret Service agent," an FBI official told Reuters.

‼️Video captures loud noises that sounded like gunshots at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Shortly after, President Trump and the First Lady, along with other White House officials, were evacuated. Heavily armed Secret Service agents entered the venue and quickly escorted… pic.twitter.com/MFT3uusbca

— Kateryna Lisunova (@KaterynaLis) April 26, 2026

Approximately two hours after the incident, Trump told reporters at the White House that a police officer was saved by his bulletproof vest and was in "good condition".

He described the attacker as a "sick person".

All federal officials at the dinner, including Trump, were safe.

"A man attacked a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave Secret Service members," Trump said at a press conference at the White House after the incident.

A video Trump posted on Truth Social shows someone running quickly through a security checkpoint, momentarily surprising security personnel before they quickly drew their weapons.

pic.twitter.com/zcgVgZivwD

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 26, 2026

"He charged from about 50 yards away, so he was very far from the room. He was moving. He was really moving," Trump said after the gala dinner was canceled.

According to him, officials believe he was a "lone wolf" who acted alone.

"He was a guy who looked pretty evil when he was down," Trump added.

TRUMP ABOUT THE SHOOTER: He was a guy who looked pretty evil when he was down, you know, they had him down. He was fighting hard. He was, in my opinion, a sick person. Who would do that but a sick person? But I think you're going to find everything about him, no reason to talk… pic.twitter.com/kYaCWkU7M1

— Kateryna Lisunova (@KaterynaLis) April 26, 2026

After the shooting, attendees at the dinner immediately stopped talking and people began shouting "Down, down".

Many of the 2,600 attendees took cover as waiters fled towards the front of the ballroom.

Secret Service agents pushed cabinet officials to the ground, including Secretary of State Marc Rubio, Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner, an important event on Washington's social calendar each year, was also attended by many members of Trump's cabinet and other high-ranking administration officials.

The event is held in the basement ballroom of the "Hilton" hotel.

The shooting followed an assassination attempt in 2024.

Trump posted on social media that he hoped the dinner, the first he attended as president, could be postponed by 30 days.

He was the target of two assassination attempts in 2024 while campaigning for re-election after leaving the White House in 2021.

The most serious attempt occurred while Trump was campaigning at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.

Trump was shot in the upper ear by a 20-year-old armed attacker. The armed attacker was killed by security personnel.

Just over two months after the shooting in Butler, Secret Service agents spotted a man with a gun hiding in the bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was on the grounds.

This was considered an assassination attempt, and the suspected attacker was sentenced to life in prison in February.

The venue of Saturday's dinner, the "Hilton" in Washington, was the scene of an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded by a would-be assassin outside the hotel in 1981.