Burrata Salad, Then Chaos: Journalists Duck As Shots Fired At US Press Dinner

CBS News' White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi heard loud noises and assumed some plates had fallen. Within seconds, Secret Service agents swung over tables to reach and guard the President, First Lady and others at the table.

26 Apr 2026, 03:54 · NDTV

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President Trump attended his first White House Correspondents Dinner since taking office
Shots were fired outside the ballroom by 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, causing panic
Secret Service and security agents quickly protected the President and evacuated guests

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New Delhi:

US President Donald Trump sat at the head table at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the first he has attended after assuming office, as journalists and government officials in attendance conversed over burrata salad and wine. CBS News' White House reporter Olivia Rinaldi heard loud noises and assumed some plates had fallen. Within seconds, Secret Service agents swung over tables and chairs to reach and guard the President, First Lady and others at the table.

Marcin Wrona, US correspondent for TVN Poland, told The Guardian's David Smith, "We were waiting for our dinner and suddenly I heard bang, bang, bang, bang and for a moment we had no idea what was going on but then we immediately heard someone scream, 'Shots fired!'"

Rinaldi said what she heard seemed like three to four successive shots, with the smell of gunpowder wafting through the room. Her colleague Jennifer Jacobs said, "Agents ran down the center aisle past me. Screams from guests. They got the president and first lady out immediately as we dove to the floor. Some people hid under tables. A very short time later, security details began to escort top officials out."

They were among the several journalists who first watched in shock and then immediately sought cover under tables as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen fired shots outside the room that hosted the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night.

NBC News' Tom Llamas, who was sitting next to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, said nobody at his table heard gunshots but ducked under the table as law enforcement rushed into the room. "Several things happened in quick succession. Tuxedoed agents pulled out guns and began running toward the ballroom. White-jacketed caterers screamed and bolted for stairwells. Pandemonium reigned as top cabinet officials were evacuated," Shawn McCreesh, part of the White House Press Pool, said.

The Guardian's Rachel Leingang said people stayed under tables and then came back up trying to figure out what was going on. Then security agents came inside of the ballroom and said everyone needed to leave.

Frank Luntz, a prominent political consultant and pollster, told The Guardian, "I watched the security people use the ultimate in athleticism to get over tables, get over chairs, to get to the people that they were guarding. The Secret Service was impressive, the congressional security was impressive. All the military and all the people responsible for keeping Americans safe, they were all in play in the last few minutes, and it's both impressive and frightening that this should happen at the White House correspondents' dinner. I've never seen this before. More security people are in this room than in any other place in America. And they all leaped into action. They all understood what they were facing. And it makes me proud to be an American."

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer had stepped out briefly and was climbing stairs leading to the lobby area when the shooting broke out. "The next thing I knew, a police officer threw me to the ground and was on top of me. They grabbed me, the police officers, and they take me back into the men's room," he said, adding that 15 others were locked inside as threat assessment continued.

Blitzer said he was just feet away from the shooter when the gunfire erupted. "I don't think he was trying to shoot me, but I was very close to him," he added. He remembered losing a shoe while being rushed to the men's room during the terrible, scary, frightening moment", which he later recovered.

Later, Trump struck a somber tone as he addressed reporters at the White House, saying being president is "a dangerous profession" and that attempted violence against him is "part of the job." He said the world was a violent place and, when it came to his own presidency, "When you're impactful they go after you." The President commended the Secret Service and suggested that the shooter wasn't close to breaching the ballroom where Trump was seated on stage at the time of the incident.

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