A gunman ran through the hotel where the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was hosted on Saturday night in Washington. He was apprehended before he could enter the ballroom where the dinner was being held. President Trump was unharmed, and the F.B.I. said a suspect was in custody.
Where a gunman moved inside the Washington Hilton hotel
The event took place in the Washington Hilton’s International Ballroom, on the concourse level two floors below the hotel’s main guest entrance and lobby. Mr. Trump, Melania Trump and Vice President JD Vance, as well as many members of Mr. Trump’s cabinet and hundreds of journalists and guests, were in attendance.
Gunfire was heard just after 8:30 p.m. outside the ballroom and within seconds, Mr. Trump was rushed from the stage and out of the room. Many guests took cover on the ground as security agents escorted members of Mr. Trump’s cabinet from the scene. Mr. Trump left the hotel around 9:45 p.m. and arrived back at the White House minutes before 10 p.m.
At a news conference around 10:30 p.m. at the White House, Mr. Trump said he had “fought like hell” to remain at the event, but that he had been told by security agents that he had to leave. He said the episode underscored why the White House needed its own ballroom with heightened security.
Washington’s interim police chief, Jeffery Carroll, said the suspect was believed to be a guest at the hotel, and that the investigation was in its early stages.
