As attendees ducked underneath tables or behind chairs when news broke that a gunman fired shots in the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on April 25, one man went viral on social media for his calm demeanour.
Creative Artists Agency agent Michael Glantz was seen at his seat, unfazed and eating a burrata salad in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel in a live feed from US news channel CNN, a stark contrast to the chaotic scenes that unfolded that evening.
Mr Glantz, who represents CNN’s television news anchor and journalist Wolf Blitzer, told White House Correspondents Insider’s editor Tammy Haddad that he was not nervous at all.
“Born and raised in New York, didn’t scare me at all,” he said.
He also told entertainment-focused tabloid news organisation TMZ on April 26 that he felt safe in the ballroom due to the large presence of security personnel.
“Not every day you see something like that go down,” he said.
Mr Glantz added that he did not consider leaving his seat.
“First of all, I have a bad back,” he told the New York Times. “I couldn’t get on the floor, and if I did get on the floor, they’d have to bring in people to get me off the floor.
“And No. 2, I’m a hygiene freak. There was no freaking way I was getting in my new tux on the dirty Hilton floor.
“It was not happening.”
US acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche said on April 26 that US President Donald Trump and administration officials were the likely targets of the suspect who fired on a security agent guarding the association’s dinner.
The man, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the hotel before being tackled and arrested.
Mr Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the dinner, followed by other Cabinet members.