The American president, Donald Trump, has been the target of a new attempted attack – the third in two years – during the White House correspondents’ dinner, which was held at the Hilton Hotel in Washington. A man armed with a gun and several knives ran through the security perimeter with the intention of entering the assembly hall, but was detained by the Secret Service, who quickly evacuated the president and his Cabinet.
The incident began shortly after the start of the event, around 8:36 p.m., as explained in Julia in the wave Onda Cero’s correspondent in the United States, Agustín Alcalá, when the detainee, Cole Allen – a 31-year-old Californian teacher – showed up at one of the last security checkpoints that led to the hotel’s assembly hall, the same one where then-president Ronald Reagan was the target of another attack in 1981 that almost ended his life after being shot several times.
Upon approaching the agents, the images show how Allen opens fire and starts running to cross the security perimeter. He was only able to advance a few meters before ending up tackled by the Secret Service. Before that, he fired a shot that wounded a police officer who, fortunately, saved his life, since he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
A few seconds after the shots were heard in the event room of the Hilton Hotel, the Secret Service began to evacuate Donald Trump and all members of the Cabinet, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, and prominent advisors such as Stephen Miller and his pregnant wife, Katie.
Immediately afterwards, the Secret Service asked the attendees and the journalists in the room to leave the place, amidst applause that accompanied the exit. Some of those present, such as CNN correspondent Kaitlan Collins, have revealed that they have been forced to remain hidden under their tables for several minutes as a precaution.
