Donald Trump was attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at a Washington hotel when a gunman opened fire and was been detained by law enforcement after a shootout
Donald Trump has revealed Melania’s chilling words after a gunman opened fire during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, California, has been identified as the suspect who was armed with guns and knives when he stormed the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.
The president was uninjured and was rushed off the stage. The armed man, who officials said was a guest at the hotel where the dinner was being held, was taken into custody and was expected in court Monday. Police believe he opened fire and acted alone but did not say who was his intended target or describe a motive.
READ MORE: Trump LIVE: Suspect identified after shots fired at White House correspondents’ dinnerREAD MORE: Donald Trump dinner shooting suspect Cole Thomas Allen’s ‘target’ emerges
Afterwards Trump said that it was his wife who first realised what was going on. “I heard a noise and kind of thought it was a tray going down,” he said, while Melania was “very cognizant” and chillingly recognised it as a “bad noise”.
On thinking it was a tray he continued: “I’ve heard that many times and it was a pretty loud noise, and it was quite far away he had not breached the area at all, they had already got him, but it was a gun.
“Some people really understood that pretty quickly other people didn’t. I was watching to see what was happening and should probably should have got down even faster.”
On the incident he said: “It’s always shocking when something like this happens.” Trump was talking at a White House press briefing in the West Wing within an hour of the violence.
“The fact that we were sitting next to each other, the first lady on my right, and I heard a noise,” Trump said. “Melania was very cognizant.”
Video posted by Trump on Truth Social showed the suspect running past security barricades as secret service agents ran towards him.
One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but is recovering, officials said. The gunman was tackled to the ground and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
Allen has been arrested and he is facing two firearm-related charges, including a count of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.
The shooting unfolded just outside the vast subterranean ballroom holding thousands of dinner guests, disrupting minutes after it began an annual event meant to honour journalism and the First Amendment that was being especially scrutinised this year because it was the first time since Trump became president that he had attended.
