The shooting occured at 9PM Washington time, Saturday night 25 April 2026 (KL time 9 AM Sunday, 26 April 2026).
UPDATE FROM CNN
President Donald Trump was swiftly escorted off the stage by Secret Service after possible shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday.
Vice President JD Vance and members of Trump’s Cabinet who were also in attendance were also rushed out.
A source told CNN that Trump is safe, while two sources said Vance is safely out of the dinner. According to an administration official, Cabinet members are OK as well.
Several US Secret Service agents yelled, “shots fired” during the event, which is being held at the Washington Hilton, according to pool reports.
Secret Service later said in a post on X that one person is in custody.
Trump is in a secure location and has told officials that he intends to return to the dinner, according to a senior administration official.
Trump took to the Truth Social to share that a “shooter has been apprehended” and applaud Secret Service and law enforcement officers for acting “quickly and bravely.”
“I have recommended that we “LET THE SHOW GO ON” but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly,” Trump wrote in the post. “Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.”
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was “a few feet away from (a gunman) as he was shooting,” he said on air.
“All the sudden a guy with a weapon, it was a very, very serious weapon, it starts shooting, and I happened to have been a few feet away from him as he was shooting,” Blitzer said.
Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which hosts the dinner, said the program will “resume momentarily.”
“I know everyone’s going to want as many details as possible. And right now we don’t have that,” Jiang told the attendees, adding, “Please just be patient as we figure out just how much time it will be, but it shouldn’t be that much longer.”
United States President Donald Trump has been evacuated from the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, DC, after shots were fired outside the event.
The evacuation on Saturday evening came after gun shots were heard outside the hotel ballroom where Trump had been seated ahead of the annual media event.
Footage from the scene showed Trump and attendees taking cover behind their table, as people yelled “Get down!” and “Stay down!”
Trump was then rushed away from the scene by the United States Secret Service, after which heavily armed agents surrounded the table.
Al Jazeera producer Chris Sheridan said he heard what he believed to be five gun shots outside the ballroom.
“We could smell the powder. We immediately dove to the ground. It was directly behind me,” Sheridan said.
Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, told the media that the programme would resume and that more details will be provided soon.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo
