A man armed with guns and knives stormed the lobby outside the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner attended by President Donald Trump on Saturday night.
The man charged towards the ballroom in a chaotic encounter with Secret Service agents as guests dived under tables at the sound of shots being fired.
The president was uninjured and was rushed off the stage.
The armed man, who officials said was a guest at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was being held, was taken into custody and is expected in court on Monday.
Police believe he opened fire and acted alone but did not say who his intended target was or describe a motive.
Speaking at the White House two hours later, Mr Trump said: “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone. They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”
The shooting unfolded just outside the vast subterranean ballroom holding thousands of dinner guests, disrupting minutes after it began an annual event meant to honour journalism and the First Amendment that was being especially scrutinised this year because it was the first time since Mr Trump became president that he had attended.
The president told reporters later that he hoped the event would be rescheduled within 30 days, though the fact that an armed man was able to rush towards the ballroom raised instant questions about security precautions at a dinner attended each year by senior US government officials.
Video posted by Mr Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran towards him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but is recovering, officials said.
The gunman was tackled to the ground and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
The shooting suspect was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California. He is facing two firearm-related charges, including a count of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.
Inside the ballroom, guests scurried for cover at the sound of shots while Secret Service agents, including the heavily-armed counter-assault team, swarmed the stage after the incident.
Vice-President JD Vance was removed from the room first, while agents initially covered Mr Trump in place before escorting him and First Lady Melania Trump from the room. The president briefly stumbled on the way off-stage, before being assisted by his security detail.
He was held for some time in a secure presidential suite at the hotel as the president and organisers initially sought to resume the event – hotel staff refolded napkins and refilled water glasses, and aides adjusted the teleprompter for the president – before Mr Trump was returned to the White House on the advice of the Secret Service.
It was the third time since 2024 that the president had been under threat by an attacker in his immediate vicinity – including the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, that injured him and killed a local firefighter.
“Today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before,” the president said. But he also said: “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society.”
FBI director Kash Patel, flanking Mr Trump, said the agency is examining a long gun and shell casings recovered from the scene, as well as interviewing witnesses from the dinner. He urged anyone with information to come forward.
Guests were dining on a spring pea and burrata salad when noise began – noise Mr Trump said he initially thought was a tray dropping but some journalists believed were five to eight gunshots.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Audible gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realised something was happening; hundreds of journalists immediately got on phones to call in information.
From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as the president was escorted off-stage. Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
After an initial attempt to resume, the event was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.
“We will do this again,” said Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Shortly afterward, staff began breaking down table settings and the presidential lectern.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he and his wife, Kelly, who both attended the event, were “praying for our country tonight”. The House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, wrote on social media: “The violence and chaos in America must end.”
Republican Mike Lawler of New York, a guest at the dinner, said he heard a pop and “we didn’t know what the hell it was. And then you heard all sorts of things clatter.”
Mr Lawler said he gets “death threats often” and said: “I think we live in a climate where everybody recognises it’s a problem, but I don’t think people fully appreciate how much of a problem it really is.”