President Trump speaks about shooting incident outside White House Correspondents’ Dinner

WASHINGTON — After being evacuated from the site of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner because of a shooting incident outside the event, President Donald Trump praised law enforcement officials and described the moment shots rang out. 

Trump, during a White House press briefing, said the suspect was armed with multiple weapons before being stopped by the Secret Service. One officer was shot, but he was protected by a bulletproof vest.

The president said he initially believed the shots ringing out were a tray being dropped, noting that the noise was “quite far away.” But the first lady, he said, was “very cognizant” that it was a shooting.

“I think she knew immediately what happened,” the president said, recalling that his wife told him. “That’s a bad noise.”

The president said the motivation of the shooter was unclear, but said that “he was a guy who looked pretty evil when he was down.”

As he began his news conference at the White House, Trump called for tougher security measures, saying that “today, we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before.”

He cited Saturday’s incident as a reason his ballroom, being constructed at the White House, is needed.

In the minutes after the shooting, Trump took to social media and initially recommended that the show resume — he later acknowledged that law enforcement officials wanted the dinner to end.

“Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job,” the president posted on Truth Social. “They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we ‘LET THE SHOW GO ON’ but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.” 

Security footage posted by Trump showed a man sprinting through the metal detectors and past law enforcement, who turn toward him with guns raised. Officers then swarm toward the man off-screen.

The Secret Service confirmed it was investigating a shooting “near the main magnetometer screening area” for the dinner. 

The White House Correspondents’ Associated President later announced that law enforcement had asked the event not to resume.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer described seeing a shooter open fire with a “large weapon” and he fired “at least half a dozen shots.” Wolf had stepped out of the ballroom to use the bathroom when gunshots rang out and encountered the shooter.

The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck.

Trump has already survived multiple assassination attempts. In the first, he was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt during an election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear.

The shooter in that incident was shot by a Secret Service sniper protecting then-candidate Trump. 

In a second incident later that year, a man camped out in the bushes near where Trump was golfing with a rifle. After Secret Service agents scared him off, he ran but was later arrested and convicted. 

At the man’s trial, a Secret Service agent helping protect Trump on the golf course testified that he spotted the would-be assassin before Trump came into view. The shooter aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing him to drop his weapon and run away without firing a shot.