A gunman charged a security checkpoint where President Donald Trump was attending a dinner in Washington on Saturday night but was apprehended after shots were fired.
Trump was not injured in the incident at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, but a Secret Service agent was shot and injured, law enforcement officials said. The suspect never got near Trump.
Vice president JD Vance, secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth and numerous other administration officials, lawmakers and members of the press were attending the annual event at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
"It's always shocking when something like this happens," Trump told reporters at the White House after the incident. But he added: "We're not going to let anybody take over our society."
With Trump already seated at the dinner, the suspect charged a Secret Service checkpoint armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. One agent was shot, but the agent was wearing a bullet-proof vest, Trump said. The suspect was not shot during the incident.
Trump said he had spoken with the injured agent, who had been transported to a nearby hospital. "He's in great shape," Trump said.
The suspect, who is from California, was a guest at the hotel, according to law enforcement officials. He is believed to have acted alone.
It was not immediately clear whether Trump was the target of the attack.
Trump said when he heard a gunshot, he thought perhaps a tray had fallen.
The incident comes less than two years after Trump survived an assassination attempt while campaigning in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in July 2024 when a bullet pierced his right ear. Two months later, Secret Service agents thwarted a second assassination attempt outside a Trump golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Asked why he thinks he has been a target of repeated assassination attempts, Trump said: "The ones who do the most, the people who make the biggest impact, they're the ones they go after."
Noting that being at risk "comes with the territory" of being president, Trump said: "It's not going to deter me from winning the war in Iran."
Ronald Reagan was shot outside the same hotel in March 1981 but survived that assassination attempt.
