BREAKING: Shots reported near WCHA dinner, Trump, Vance, First Lady and cabinet evacuated, suspect down

President Trump, Vice President Vance and First Lady Melania were evacuated from the White House Correspondents Association dinner on Saturday night as shots rang out. This is the first time Trump has attended the dinner as president. 

It was reported by Sean Hannity that the shooter charged the magnetometer closest to the front door before taking a shot at a Secret Service member who was near the ballroom.

Fox News reported that Trump, who was to deliver a keynote speech, will return to the stage, but later revised that to say he would not be coming back or that it was unclear. It was then revealed that the WHCA dinner would not continue and President Trump would hold a press conference back at the White House.

Trump posted to Truth Social, saying "Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do, immediately. I will be giving a press conference in 30 minutes from the White House Press Briefing Room. The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days. President DONALD J. TRUMP"

Katie Pavlich reported on the events, saying "Trump was introduced with First Lady 15 mins ish ago.

"Five or so mins after he was seated shots range out: POP POP POP POP. Sounds like five to me where I’m sitting. 

"Everyone immediately hit the floor.

"Secret Service immediately took POTUS out and a search of the room began.

"There are thousands of people here."

Pavlich said that the shooter was dead in the lobby, though at time of writing the shooter may only have been detained. Reports remain conflicting on this detail.

Wolf Blitzer, reporting for CNN, said he saw the gunman “shooting randomly” before police took him down. Blitzer recounted that he heard “a whole bunch of gunshots and someone firing."

"The next thing I saw," he went on, "were a lot of police officers and other law enforcement grabbing [the gunman] and getting him to the ground.”

Brett Baier said he "heard shots" from where he was sitting next to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "Everyone dove down," he said.

The dinner, known as the annual "nerd prom" in Washington, DC, is attended by many journalists and reporters who were on the scene at the time shots rang out. Brett Baier said "there was this big boom then people started running."

Police rushed to the scene as soon as the shots rang out. 

The dinner this year was contentious, with progressive journalists demanding that those in attendance express their displeasure at Trump. 

Sam Donaldson, Lynn Sherr, Linda Douglass, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Press Photographers Association, the Freedom of the Press Association, the Coalition for Women in Journalism, and the Radio Television Digital News Association told the press corps that they must "demonstrate opposition" to Trump when he appears at the dinner. They sent a letter to the board of directors to demand that those in attendance make their displeasure with the president known.

The dinner has long served as a symbol of the vital and irreplaceable role of a free press in American democracy and a celebration of the First Amendment and the journalists who uphold it," the signatories wrote. "President Trump’s systematic, sustained, and unprecedented attacks on the free press render his presence at such an event a profound contradiction of its purpose."

"Two days ago NY Times gave an interview to a leftist justifying the assassination of the United Healthcare CEO," Jack Posobiec pointed out.

There have been two previous attempts on the President's life. The first was July 2024 in Butler, PA, when Trump was shot by a sniper, Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was injured but stood back up on stage saying "fight, fight, fight," with his fist raised. In September of that year, Ryan Routh lay in wait for him at his Florida golf course but was apprehended by Secret Service before he could take a shot.

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