Chaos at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner: a night of commemoration took a drastic turn

What started out as one of the White House's most high-profile events took a sudden turn, as the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner was interrupted by a gun incident.

Typically held in the ballrooms of the Washington Hilton, the dinner is set in place as somewhere to bring together journalists, politicians and celebrities. President Donald Trump made an appearance at the dinner for the first time in years, bringing in top governmental officials and public figures beside him. However, in the middle of the dinner, guests heard shots ring out.

According to NPR, multiple gunshots were fired just outside of the ballroom by a security screening checkpoint. As shots were fired guests were being rushed out of the room, including the president and first lady. A secret service agent was shot by the suspect but due to his bullet proof vest he, along with the rest of the attendees remained unharmed. One photo that was shared during the time of Trump’s speech from the press room shows the man in custody on the floor. The man was armed with multiple weapons, including the gun and multiple knives.  

After the suspect was taken into custody, White House Correspondents Association President and CBS senior White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang came back to the stage to address the incident and the worried guests. While Trump had posted on social media that the night would continue, Jiang told the crowd that the night would have to be rescheduled due to law enforcement protocol and that Trump would be doing a briefing shortly after.

Jiang also emphasized that the point of the dinner on Sunday night was, according to CBS, to acknowledge the importance of the First Amendment not only to the democracy but also for the country as a whole.