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President Trump was rushed off stage tonight after shots were fired at the White House Correspondence
Dinner. >> Complete chaos here, a lot of fear inside the room. I'll just tell you where we work. We were sitting the daily wire in our friends and a table right by the doorway where we heard the gun shots. >> The president was evacuated unharmed.
“A secret service agent was reportedly shot, but his protective vest caught the bullet.”
It sounded to me that the shooting was outside the room immediately.
It sounded to me like it was defensive shooting that it wasn't been out of control shooting.
So immediately thought, okay, someone is coming to the building and see the service was reacted. >> A shooter has been apprehended and identified. And with authorities working to investigate President Trump gave a press conference minutes after the incident. >> My impression is he was a alone wolf. >> Wack job, user crazy people, user crazy people, and they have to be dealt with.
>> I'm daily wire executive editor John Bickley. It's Saturday, April 25th. This is a breaking news addition of warning wire. With the night just getting underway and while President Trump was sitting at the table on stage with
first lady Melania Trump and press secretary Caroline Levitt.
Popping sounds were heard in the ballroom. The Trump's were cleared quickly from the table while some people sitting at the dinner ducked under their chairs. >> I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down many times and it was pretty loud noise. And it was from quite far away, but it was a gun.
“And he was taken down by some very brave members of Secret Service and they acted very quickly.”
>> The shooting took place at a security checkpoint outside the ballroom. One secret service agent was shot but thankfully protected by his bulletproof vest. DC's mayor, mural Bowser, said both the suspect and a secret service officer were transported to a local hospital. The shooter was quickly apprehended and he's now been identified as Cole Allen, a 31 year old man from Torrance, California. The president posted an image of the suspect on truth social as well as video of him running through a security checkpoint.
Images show the suspect lying shirtless on the ground with his hands restrained behind his back. According to his LinkedIn page, Allen is currently a part-time teacher at C2 education that's a nationwide tutoring and college preparatory organization. Here in the bachelor's and master's degrees in California, he also appears to have been a Democrat donor. Federal election commission data reviewed by the daily wire seems to show the suspect in 2024 donating $25 to act blue.
“That's the Democratic Party's major donation platform.”
DC police chief Jeffrey Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He said he appears to have been a lone actor who poses no threat to the public at this time. He's been charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. U.S. Attorney Janine Piro announced the charges Saturday night saying, "Many more charges will follow." He'll be arraigned Monday in a district court. When the dust settled, the president addressed the incident from the White House podium Saturday night.
This was an event dedicated to freedom of speech that was supposed to bring together members of both parties with members of the press. And in a certain way, it did. FBI Director Cash Patel joined the president on stage. We will be examining this individual's background thoroughly that process has already started, and we are going to ensure that he was either a lone wolf actor or anyone else that was responsible. We will analyze all evidence immediately to make sure that we safeguard this country.
Trump also addressed the recurring attempts on his life since taking the job. It's a dangerous profession, but I don't view it that way. Look, I'm here to do a job as part of the job, but I love the country and a very proud. The White House Correspondent's dinner was called off for the evening, but Trump said the event would be rescheduled, likely within the next 30 days or so. The Washington Hilton, where the dinner was set to take place, is where President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. This is a developing story checked daily wire for updates. We'll be back with much more on this incident and the fallout on Monday morning.
This has been a breaking news edition of Morning Wire.
