{"id":714,"date":"2026-04-26T14:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/?p=714"},"modified":"2026-04-26T14:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:19:08","slug":"trump-was-likely-target-of-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/26\/trump-was-likely-target-of-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump was likely target of White House correspondents’ dinner shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON<\/strong>: US President Donald Trump and officials in his administration were the likely targets of a suspect who fired on a security agent guarding the White House Correspondents’ Association \u200bdinner in Washington, US Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested. Trump \u200cand first lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It does appear that he, he did, in fact, set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding that the suspect likely traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspect will be charged in federal court on Monday with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, Blanche said, adding he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Condemnation of shooting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump told reporters at a briefing at the White House after the attack that the Secret Service agent was saved by his bulletproof vest and was in “good shape.” US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi confirmed the officer had \u200bbeen released from the hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump told reporters he believed that he was the target of the attack. The president has survived two previous attempts on his life since 2024, a period of \u2060deepening political polarization in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the world, leaders condemned the attack, adding they were relieved that Trump and all present were safe and expressing their solidarity with the United States. NATO leader Mark Rutte called it an attack “on our \u200bfree and open societies,” and leaders stressed violence had no place in a democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suspect thought to be ‘lone wolf,’ Trump says<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a California resident about 31 years old. Little \u200bwas immediately known about Allen’s background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, near Los Angeles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the \u2060suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated, but it was too soon to say what his motivation was, Carroll said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on \u200bpreliminary information, he was believed to have been a guest at the hotel, Carroll added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chaotic events from around 8:35pm raised fresh questions about the security of top US officials, many of whom were gathered \u200bin the hotel’s expansive ballroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A focus of the investigation is likely to be how the gunman was able to smuggle the shotgun into the hotel, which hosts the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner, a marquee fixture of Washington\u2019s social calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The black-tie event was attended by many members of Trump\u2019s cabinet and other senior administration officials amid heavy security. It was the first time Trump attended the event as president, having boycotted it in previous years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterwards, Trump addressed reporters, many still in \u200bevening attire, in an extraordinary late-night press conference in the White House briefing room, flanked by Vice President JD Vance and other cabinet members. Trump’s wife, Melania, looked on from the sidelines and demurred when he \u200basked her whether she wanted to talk about the events of the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue for the dinner was the scene of an attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded by a would-be assassin \u200coutside the hotel \u2060in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closed-circuit TV footage released by Trump on Truth Social showed the suspect running rapidly through a security checkpoint, momentarily catching security personnel off guard before they drew their weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No shots were fired at the gunman who got through two checkpoints before being brought down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You know, he charged from 50 yards away, so he was very far away from the room. He was moving. He was really moving,” Trump said after the gala dinner was canceled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials believe he is a “lone wolf,” Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How it unfolded<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video footage shows Trump and his wife sitting at a banquet table on stage in conversation with someone when a commotion at the rear of the ballroom – \u200bcaused by the noise of gunshots – triggers a \u200bripple of gasps through the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People started screaming, \u201cGet \u2060down, get down!” Many of the 2,600 attendees dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns took cover under tables as security personnel drew their weapons, with some pushing cabinet secretaries to the floor and covering them with their bodies, while others formed a protective cordon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security personnel in combat fatigues stormed the stage, pointing rifles into the \u200bballroom as Trump, his wife and Vance were evacuated. Cabinet members who had been sitting at tables dotted around the vast room were escorted out \u200bby their security details one \u2060by one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most guests huddled under tables, some people began chanting “USA, USA!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump stayed backstage for about an hour after being hustled from the stage, a source told Reuters. He later said he had not wanted to leave the event, a remark that echoed images of him defiantly pumping his fist after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that attempt, Trump was shot and wounded in his upper ear by a 20-year-old gunman, who \u2060was shot dead \u200bby security personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just over two months after the Butler shooting, Secret Service agents spotted a man wielding a gun and hiding \u200bin bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was on the course. It was deemed an assassination attempt, and the suspect was sentenced to life in prison in February.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and officials in his administration were the likely targets of a suspect who fired on a security agent guarding the White House Correspondents’ Association \u200bdinner in Washington, US Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday. The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,7,2,9],"tags":[20,51],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":{"0":"post-714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-latest","9":"category-pakisstan","10":"category-food","11":"tag-trump","12":"tag-us"},"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"afnanwasif","display_name":"Web Desk","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbec8328241e98fefcd32e00f20f7a6b502086a0b95d395db4b1565c51681914?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}