{"id":10314,"date":"2026-05-04T22:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/?p=10314"},"modified":"2026-05-04T22:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T22:52:16","slug":"chaos-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner-as-gunman-storms-hotel-opens-fire-outside-ballroom-and-trump-is-evacuated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/?p=10314","title":{"rendered":"Chaos at White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner as gunman storms hotel, opens fire outside ballroom and Trump is evacuated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President Trump, first lady Melania and a slew of top lawmakers and White House officials had to be dramatically evacuated from the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night after a crazed gunman rushed the security perimeter and opened fire outside the ballroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shooting erupted just after 8:30 p.m., about 20 minutes after the president and first lady made their grand entrance into the Washington Hilton ballroom in Washington, DC., where Trump and countless VIPS were set to toast the Washington press corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shooter \u2014 blasted by Trump as a \u201csick\u201d individual \u2014 charged toward the ballroom armed with a shotgun and multiple knives before being swiftly taken down by Secret Service agents in the lobby, police said, sharing shocking photos of the shirtless madman pinned face down on the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law enforcement sources identified him as Cole Allen, 31, a teacher and Caltech grad from Torrance, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live updates on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, next to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, attend the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 25, 2026.REUTERS
US President Donald Trump is escorted out as a shooter opens fire during the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 25, 2026, in this screen\u2026REUTERS
\u201cThe man has been captured. They\u2019re going to his apartment. I guess he lives in California, and he\u2019s a sick person.\u201d Trump told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also talked about the sense of togetherness he felt among the crowd at the dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press, and in a certain way it did, because the fact that they just unified,\u201d Trump said at a White House press briefing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI saw a room that was just totally unified. It was, in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials said the deranged gunman rushed a security checkpoint and was headed toward the president\u2019s location before being stopped outside the ballroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police believe he was a guest at the hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cole Allen is detained in the lobby of the Hilton where the White House Correspondents\u2019 dinner was held.truthsocial\/realDonaldTrump
President Trump confirmed that the suspected shooter, Cole Allen, has been captured.C2 Education\/Facebook
\u201cBut at this point it does appear he is a lone actor, a lone gunman,\u201d Interim DC police chief Jeffrey Carroll confirmed Saturday night. \u201cThere does not appear to be any sort of danger to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Secret Service agent was shot in the chaos. Trump said the agent was hit \u201cfrom a very close distance with a very powerful gun,\u201d but survived thanks to his bulletproof vest and is in \u201cgreat shape\u201d at a local hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizers of the star-studded \u201cnerd prom\u201d program originally said that they wanted continue as planned; but then announced that the event was canceled by 9:45 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secret service agents respond during the White House Correspondents Dinner.AP
It will be rescheduled within 30 days, Trump said, noting he \u201cfought like hell\u201d to keep the event going as he was ready to tear into the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also praised law enforcement and Secret Service for doing a \u201cfantastic job\u201d and acting \u201cvery quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Trump, first lady Melania and a slew of top lawmakers and White House officials had to be dramatically evacuated from the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9876,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10314"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10315,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10314\/revisions\/10315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damaalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}