Catherine Alaimo
BBC intern, reporting from White House Correspondents' Dinner

Image source, Getty Images

I was eating dinner on my break from volunteering at the White House Correspondents' Dinner when I heard a few loud bangs in quick succession.

The shots sounded very close to us. One of the other volunteers yelled, "it's a gun!" We then ran to the emergency exit and sheltered there until the SWAT team left.

Gary O’Donoghue
Chief North America Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

It was about 20:35 local time and we were sitting about 40ft from the stage. We were on table 95.

The main doors to the ballroom were ahead of me - maybe 100ft or so.

What we heard were some noises from that direction. It wasn’t clear what those noises were, but it was the low booming noise which is associated with automatic fire.

We don’t know if that was coming from the secret service, but we’re being told now by the White House pool that an armed man did try to get through the magnetometers at the entrance and was apprehended by the secret service and the law enforcement team.

We don’t know who he was or what state he’s in now.

The contingent on the stage were taken off immediately. I spoke to Robert F Kennedy just before the dinner. I asked him if he was looking forward to it, and he said ‘I’m really hungry, we should get on with it’.

He was one of those on the stage we understand was taken into a side room.

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent, reporting from WHCD

Image source, Getty Images

Major questions remain surrounding this shooting incident, but in the immediate aftermath it has already raised concerns around the security arrangements for the White House Correspondents Dinner.

The event at the Washington Hilton is attended most years by the president and several Cabinet secretaries and other senior administration officials, in addition to hundreds of journalists.

Attendees are required to go through airport-style security to gain access to the main ballroom where the dinner takes place. There is also security outside of the hotel itself.

In theory, it should be as secure an event as possible in Washington. There haven’t been any similar incidents at past White House correspondent dinners. But the fact that it happened tonight will no doubt put a spotlight on security at this event going forward.

A number of lawmakers have posted statements on social media about tonight's dinner.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says he is "closely monitoring the unfolding situation at the White House Correspondents Dinner".

"I’m grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and am praying everyone remains safe," he says.

Republican Senator Rand Paul says: "Thank God the President and all of the attendees tonight are safe."

Republican Representative Nancy Mace says Americans should "pray for President Trump and for our country right now".

Motorcades whizzed back to the White House after it was confirmed the correspondents' event would not go ahead.

Working pool reporters were dropped off at the North Lawn entrance and are now waiting in the press briefing room for the president to deliver his remarks, which we are expecting shortly.

We'll bring them to you live when President Donald Trump starts speaking.

Tom Bateman
US State Department correspondent, reporting from dinner

When that huge commotion unleashed itself in the ballroom at the Washington Hilton just a bit ago, I tried to film what was happening.

I came with a colleague to the back of the room to try and send a video, which was when I got sucked into a group of people who were being ushered outside. On the way out I heard a Secret Service agent saying ‘this is now a crime scene, you’ve got to get out’.

We came out to the back, which is a vehicle exit to the hotel on a side street.

As we came out, I saw the FBI Director Kash Patel being taken out of the building. He was outside, he then came back in at one point. There was a lot of commotion.

In the last few minutes we’ve seen the presidential motorcade leaving the hotel.

There is a more relaxed atmosphere outside now, which tells me the president clearly has left. We now have a large cordon around the hotel, there are a large number of police cars, and people have been moved away.

White House Correspondent Association board member Courtney Subramanian has just spoken to the BBC, saying the incident at the ballroom was a traumatic moment for many in the room tonight.

She was in attendance, and says half the room dropped to the floor, including the president.

"We were lying there," she says, adding that security whisked away the president and vice-president before they rushed the others backstage.

Subramanian says Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk who was shot and killed at an event last year, was also whisked away and was in tears.

Subramanian says Trump's security team said a suspected gunman was apprehended outside the ballroom and never made it into the event.

"We've been asked to leave, to follow protocol," she says.

Outside the dinner at the Washington Hilton, well over a dozen police cars and law enforcement vehicles can be seen flashing their lights and blockading the street as helicopters are heard overheard.

Reporters are also setting up shop in front of the road, cameras ready.

The presidential motorcade has just passed by, en route back to the White House.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Cai Pigliucci
Reporting from White House Correspondents Dinner

Image source, Getty Images

We've now been ushered out of the ballroom.

There is a massive police presence everywhere around us as you exit the Hilton hotel.

There's a small group of people standing behind the caution tape line waiting for others to meet them.

As I walk by I can hear people asking if others are okay and giving hugs as soon as they see anyone they know.

Image source, Getty Images

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter, reporting from dinner

Image source, Getty Images

We still have no official confirmation of what took place.

But Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich, a member of the White House Correspondent's Association's board, posted on X that they've been told that an individual attempted to pass through metal detectors with a gun.

President Trump, according to Heinrich, was being held in a nearby room and wanted the dinner to continue, though he just posted on social media that law enforcement have asked him to leave.

Indrani Basu
BBC News, reporting from White House Correspondents' dinner

We had just finished our first course of salad at around 20:30 local time (01:30 BST) when I heard what sounded like glass shattering. Did someone drop a tray of wine glasses, was my immediate thought.

The BBC North America bureau chief, seated to my right, pulled my arm and shouted to get down. We all crawled under our table for what felt like a long time, but was probably just under five minutes. Eventually, we started crawling out after the immediate threat seemed to be over.

I saw the main stage had been evacuated, where the president of the United States had been seated just minutes earlier.

What happened next is what would you expect in a room full of journalists. BBC State Department correspondent Tom Bateman had already filmed a video from under the table and sent it to the breaking news desk. BBC North America Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue was filing to radio.

Everyone in the room was reporting the news.

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Trump has left the venue after the suspected shooting.

"The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition," he wrote on Truth Social.

The event will be delayed and rescheduled within 30 days, the president said.

Trump will address the media in 30 minutes outside the White House.

Image source, Getty Images

The president and first lady and all other Secret Service protectees are safe, says Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

One individual - whose condition is unknown - is in custody, he says

The night's programme in the Washington Hilton banquet hall will continue after the chaos caused by the loud, unidentified shots.

Guests could be seen returning to their seats and shuffling through the crowd after the announcement was made.

It is unclear whether the president, first lady and vice president will return to the head table.

President Trump had said that he wanted to "let the show go on".

Caitriona Perry
Reporting from dinner

Attendees in the room at the Hilton have still not been allowed to leave, and the door from where I believe the loud bangs came from has remained closed.

Many high-profile dignitaries remain among the journalists in lockdown, but other members of the Trump administration, such as Robert F Kennedy Jr, were taken out of the room.

There is suggestion that the president may come back, in line with his post to Truth Social, but there is no timeline as to when programming at the White House Correspondent's Dinner will resume.

Attendees are awaiting a statement from the Secret Service.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

The doors to the venue are still closed - and most of the people in the venue, which seats approximately 2,500, are standing and many are on their phones.

Much of the Washington press corps is in the room, both from the domestic and international press. In the immediate vicinity around me, I see representatives from Politico, the Daily Mail and various European and Latin American news agencies.

President Trump just posted on Truth Social that the suspect was apprehended and that he believes the show must go on, but that he will go with what law enforcement advises.

As Trump suggested in his post, there is little chance that the show can proceed as normal after an incident that left many attendees extremely alarmed and in a state of shock.

The atmosphere in the room, to me, seems very much like that I found in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and Trump assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.

The primary difference is that there are hundreds of more reporters here.

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent, reporting from dinner

Image source, Reuters

Some new details are emerging on the shooting at the dinner.

Seven to eight gun shots were fired, according to a security official at the event who is familiar with the fast-moving situation.

There were conflicting reports about whether the suspected gunman was killed or taken into custody.

President Donald Trump posted on social media moments ago that the shooter was “apprehended.”

Gareth Evans
Reporting from White House Correspondants' Dinner

We are still being kept in the main ballroom, where thousands of people are standing and trying to establish more detail on what happened.

The stage where the president was sitting is completely empty. Many guests here are on the phone, although mobile reception is limited.

The doors to the rear of the ballroom are closed. We are locked in for now, and a security guard I spoke to didn't give a time frame on when proceedings here would resume.

Image source, Getty Images

We have now heard from the president for the first time since he was seen being whisked away by heavily armed security personnel.

Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform to say the shooter has been "apprehended".

"I have recommended that we “LET THE SHOW GO ON” but, will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement.

"Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again," he said.

The White House pool was still on site at the Washington Hilton at 20:56 local time (01:56 BST), which means the US president has not departed the venue.

Stay with us as we bring you more updates.