President Trump was moved to safety in a specially built secure room at the Washington Hilton after a suspected gunman disrupted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the venue on Friday night (April 25). The space was created in response to the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan at the same hotel.
According to the BBC, the suspect is a 31-year-old hotel guest named Cole Tomas Allen, from Torrance, California.
Federal authorities have since begun investigating at the suspect’s home, and he is expected to face formal charges in court tomorrow (April 27).
Panic broke out during the annual event for journalists and members of the presidential administration when gunfire erupted. The attacker allegedly pushed past security while carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and several knives.
Multiple Secret Service agents reportedly ran toward the stage with their weapons drawn as more than 2,000 guests were seen taking cover beneath the round banquet tables.
Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were seated near the front of the ballroom speaking with other attendees when the loud bangs sounded through the room.
The dinner was halted and later rescheduled following the incident. The Correspondents’ Dinner has been hosted at the Hilton for years and is typically accessible to other hotel guests, with security often focused mainly on the event area rather than the entire building.
This is also not the first time a president has faced danger at the Washington Hilton.
In 1981, Ronald Reagan was shot outside the hotel by John Hinckley Jr., which led to changes in the building’s design, including the addition of a protected presidential suite close to the entrance.
That same secure room was reportedly where Trump was taken briefly after shots were fired on Saturday night.
After being escorted back to the White House and receiving a briefing, Trump addressed the incident publicly.
He said a Secret Service agent was shot at close range but survived because the bullet struck a protective vest.
“Why do you think this keeps happening to you?,” one reporter asked the 79-year-old.
He responded: “I’ve studied assassinations and I must tell you, the most impactful people – the people that do the most… the people that make the biggest impact, those are the ones they go after.
“They don’t go after the ones that don’t do much because they like it that way. When you look at the people… whether it was an attempt or successful attempt, they’re very impactful people… They’re big names.”
He then added: “I hate to say I’m honored by that but I’ve done a lot.
“We’ve taken this country and we were a laughing stock for years, now we’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. We’ve changed this country and there’s a lot of people that are not happy about that.”
Jeffery Carroll, the Interim Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, said the suspect’s motive has not yet been determined. He also noted that the fact shots were fired does not automatically indicate the FBI suffered a security breakdown.