US President Donald Trump gave a briefing at the White House after he was evacuated from the "Hilton" Hotel in Washington for a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Donald Trump said that “a man attacked a checkpoint armed with multiple weapons“.
The man was “taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service,“ Trump said.
Erin Tillman, who attended the event, told CNN that she saw a man carrying a rifle with magazines on his shoulder fall to the ground after being shot by security.
She said she heard three shots fired at the man, but she did not clearly see if the man fired.
Earlier, Trump was quickly escorted to safety at the “Washington Hilton“ hotel, hoping to return to event until law enforcement advises otherwise.
A video clip captures President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump talking to U.S. mentalist Oz Perlman moments before the shooting.
In the video, as Perlman is speaking to Trump, everyone suddenly reacts to a loud noise; Melania and Perlman can be seen grimacing in shock before security escorts the president out.
In another video, attendees are seated at tables when a loud noise erupts from the back of the room, sending people ducking under tables.
“Security at an event like this is layered. The layers start on the outside. They get thicker as you enter the building,“ said John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement analyst.
Magnetometer officers are on the “front line” the screening process, but are part of the crowd, “which means they can“t be armed,“ Miller explained.
This uniformed Secret Service unit wears white shirts, black pants and badges and “looks like regular police“. In addition to them are the plainclothes Secret Service agents who guard the president and are spread throughout the building, he added.
“So we don't know who was involved in the initial confrontation, but there is some possibility that the confrontation started with the uniformed unit of these magnetometers,“ Miller said.