President Donald Trump (R) and other high-ranking U.S. officials were evacuated from a ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel after an attacker charged a security checkpoint and fired at U.S. Secret Service officers. The ballroom was the site of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, an annual event attended by numerous administration officials, media personalities, reporters, and their families.

The suspect carried several weapons including a handgun, shotgun, and multiple knives. He fired the shotgun once, striking a uniformed Secret Service officer in his bullet-resistant vest. The officer—who was injured but is expected to make a full recovery—fired five shots from his service weapon in return; none struck the assailant.

The gunman was later identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a thirty-one year old man from Torrance, California, who was a guest at the hotel. Allen has been charged with multiple federal crimes including the attempted assassination of the president. Though he was not hit by gunfire, he was injured during apprehension and transported to an area hospital. Allen’s hotel room and his California home were searched by federal authorities and the investigation is ongoing.

The remainder of the dinner was postponed and attendees were ordered out of the building. Trump gave a press briefing at the White House about two hours after the incident; he thanked Secret Service officers for their quick response to the attack and praised Weijia Jiang, senior White House correspondent for CBS News and current president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Trump said he wanted to return to the event, but had to follow law enforcement protocol. Trump and Jiang intend to reschedule the dinner within thirty days.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is the main annual event for the White House Correspondents’ Association, an organization that partly governs press access to the president and other White House officials. Since President Calvin Coolidge (R) attended in 1924, and with the sole exception of Trump’s first term, every president has attended at least one of these dinners during their term in office. This was Trump’s first time attending; other attendees included Vice President J.D. Vance (R), many members of Trump’s cabinet, members of the U.S. Congress, the White House correspondents for most major media organizations, and many family members and guests.

The Washington Hilton Hotel was also the site of the March 30, 1981, attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan (R).

Update, April 26, 2026, 11:30 a.m.: This post has been updated to add additional background information about the correspondents’ dinner and to improve clarity.

Update, April 30, 2026, 1:00 p.m.: Updated to include the exact number of shots fired by the suspect and the injured officer; additional minor clarifications.