Person hailing from California captured
WASHINGTON, Apr 26: US President Donald Trump and other top officials were evacuated unharmed from the annual dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association after a man armed with multiple weapons fired shots outside the hotel ballroom.
The incident occurred on Saturday at around 8:34 PM when dinner was served. At that time, Trump was seen having a conversation with Weijia Jiang, the president of the association, and mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was scheduled to present a show at the marquee event at the Washington Hilton here.
Secret Service officials and other security personnel covered the President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President J D Vance, and the Second Lady Usha Vance, who were seated at the head table, and escorted them out of the ballroom.
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Several guests at the dinner, including leaders across the political spectrum, journalists and other invitees, ducked under the table, apparently as a reflex reaction.
“The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition,” Trump posted on social media soon after the incident.
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Putting up a brave face, Trump also announced on Truth Social that the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days.
Hours later, Trump addressed a press conference at the White House and announced that the security personnel had captured one person who hails from California.
“I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray going down. I’ve heard that many times. It was a pretty loud noise, and it was from quite far away. He (the attacker) hadn’t reached the area at all. They really got him,” Trump told reporters, recalling the incident.
Trump said one security officer was shot at but saved as he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Several world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressed relief that President Trump and his top officials were unharmed, asserting that political violence has no place in a democracy.
“I extend my best wishes for their continued safety and well-being. Violence has no place in a democracy and must be unequivocally condemned,” Modi said in a post on X.
Expressing shock at the incident, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that any attack on democratic institutions must be condemned.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Canadian PM Mark Carney, Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif, Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Australian PM Anthony Albanese extended their full support to Trump, calling the attack “unacceptable”.
The suspect was not on their radar before the shooting, a law enforcement official was quoted as saying by the channel.
A CNN reporter who was outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton said he saw a gunman opening fire just a few feet away. He was among the dozens of attendees who took cover as law enforcement swarmed the venue.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom is all that I heard, and many guests ducked under the table,” a C-SPAN reporter at the dinner said.
Several protestors had lined up on the road outside the hotel, raising slogans against the Trump administration and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Asked how Saturday’s incident impacts him as the US president, Trump told reporters he is in a dangerous job but that he is no “basket case.”
“I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled,” Trump said.
“I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives…everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd,” he said. (PTI)
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