Questions raised about political violence, security and gun control after brazen attack at event attended by top officials
A stunned Washington faced searching questions about political violence and gun control on Sunday after shots were fired at a prestigious media gala attended by Donald Trump and senior White House officials.
A man targeted a Secret Service agent at a security checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel the previous night before being tackled and arrested. Trump and Melania Trump were rushed out of the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner as guests dived for cover under tables.
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© Photograph: Kylie Cooper/Reuters
© Photograph: Kylie Cooper/Reuters
© Photograph: Kylie Cooper/Reuters
Acting attorney general says suspect was believed to have been targeting top Trump administration officials
The gunman who tried to breach the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC on Saturday night is believed to have been targeting Donald Trump and senior members of his administration, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday, although his exact motive has not yet become clear.
The suspect, who is in custody after being subdued by members of law enforcement as he rushed through the hotel venue, could be charged with trying to assassinate the US president, Blanche said.
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© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
Law enforcement agencies name Cole Tomas Allen as Trump posts video of man sprinting through checkpoint
The suspected gunman in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner that has roiled Washington has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from southern California.
Allen, of Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, has no record of criminal charges or a civil court history in Los Angeles county, according to a records search.
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© Photograph: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
© Photograph: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
© Photograph: Apu Gomes/Getty Images
Shooting reveals how political violence has become feature of American life on a night dedicated to press freedom
Ahead of this year’s White House correspondents’ dinner, conversations centered on the role of the media and freedom of the press as journalists prepared to dine with the president.
Instead of a speech stacked with heated barbs against the media, the event ended like many in the US do: with gun violence.
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© Photograph: Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
Buckingham Palace says visit will go ahead after talks during day in wake of shooting incident at Trump dinner
King Charles’s security is being reviewed before his state visit to the US this week, Buckingham Palace has said, after a gunman attempted to storm a dinner attended by Donald Trump in Washington DC.
Guests at the White House correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night hid under tables when gunshots were heard as the Secret Service evacuated the president and other members of his administration from the scene.
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© Photograph: Ian Vogler/Reuters
© Photograph: Ian Vogler/Reuters
© Photograph: Ian Vogler/Reuters
This blog is now closed. See our full report: Trump tells 60 Minutes he ‘wasn’t worried’ during correspondents’ dinner shooting
Donald Trump took to Trump Social on Sunday to repeat his statement from the night before in which he said the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner was why a White House ballroom was necessary.
“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump wrote.
It does appear the suspect was targeting members of the administration … We don’t have specifics yet about particular members of the administration, except that we do understand that that was his goal and his target.
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© Photograph: Yuri Gripas/EPA
© Photograph: Yuri Gripas/EPA
© Photograph: Yuri Gripas/EPA
Men in tuxedos and women in dresses dove under tables, like a scene from a dozen Hollywood movies, but now it was happening to me
Shocking. Unnerving. Unpredictable. Violent. For a decade I have been following the twists and turns of Donald Trump’s America with the privilege of journalistic distance. On Saturday night I felt the darkness come viscerally close.
Bang! Bang! What was that? Where was it? At 8.36pm panic and pandemonium reigned in the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton hotel. There were men running and cries of “Get down!” and “Stay down!”
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© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
© Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
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