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Over the past two years, Donald Trump has faced at least two assassination attempts and numerous security threats, including incidents involving gunfire.
Here’s a timeline of the events as they occurred (all times are in Eastern Daylight Time).
Saturday, April 25: Protesters began to assemble outside the Washington Hilton hours before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
This marks the first occasion that President Trump is participating in the annual gathering organized by journalists who report on the White House and U.S. presidents.
While every U.S. president since 1924 has attended the dinner at least once during their tenure, Trump did not follow this tradition during his first term in office.
He did not attend the event once during his time in office between 2017 and 2021.
Around 6.30pm: Multiple protesters are removed from the area, including several calling for the arrest of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
They are forcibly removed from the WHCA dinner red carpet.
Medea Benjamin, co-founder of anti-war organisation Code Pink, is also escorted from the event.
Around 7:30pm: High-profile guests including Hegseth and his wife arrive to walk the red carpet before the dinner gets underway.
Just before 8pm: Trump arrives at the Washington Hilton in a presidential motorcade.
8pm: The hotel ballroom is full and guests are seated, ready for the formalities to get underway.
Leaders of the WHCA take to the stage alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Vice President JD Vance.
8.16pm: The president and first lady Melania Trump, both dressed in black, are introduced at their first ever WCHA dinner.
A military band plays and guests stand for the national anthem before dinner.
8:34pm: Leavitt and the first lady take part in a magic trick with mentalist Oz Pearlman, who attempted to guess the name of Leavitt’s unborn child.
The two women lean in as Pearlman shows a small notepad to the president.
Unbeknownst to them, a man charges through a Secret Service checkpoint just outside the ballroom.
Secret Service members draw their weapons and pursue the man.
Footage of the moment shows guests and staff duck for cover.
8:35pm: Members of the Secret Service race to defend the president, surrounding him.
At the other end of his table, security staff grab the vice president by the shoulders and haul him backstage.
The Secret Service take Trump off stage in the opposite direction as heavily armed law-enforcement agents flood into the room.
Members of Trump’s cabinet are raced to safety, including Hegseth, Secretary of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, and Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson.
Guests left in the ballroom hide behind their seats and under tables.
8:52pm: Less than 20 minutes after shots were fired, footage emerges of the suspected shooter in custody on the terrace floor above the hotel ballroom.
Just before 9pm: WHCA President Weijia Jiang tells guests the dinner will resume.
9:17pm: Trump takes to Truth Social to announce the “shooter has been apprehended”.
He praises the Secret Service and law enforcement and states that he wants to “let the show go on” and return to the dinner, but will follow security advice.
9:36pm: Trump returns to Truth Social to say law enforcement have requested he leave the hotel and announces he will give a press conference in 30 mintues.
Around 9:40pm: Jiang announces the event is cancelled.
Around 9:45pm: More than 4200km from the Washington Hilton, FBI personnel arrive at the California home of the alleged shooter.
10:29pm: Trump posts security footage of the alleged shooter charging through the Security Service checkpoint earlier in the evening.
Seconds later, he shares two photos of Allen facedown on the hotel floor in handcuffs.
He is shirtless and covered from the waist down in what appears to be a silver metallic blanket.
It is later revealed that he was allegedly armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives at the time of the attack.
10:33pm: The president hosts a news conference from the White House and reveals the alleged shooter was “armed with multiple weapons”.
“He’s a very sick person and we don’t want things like this to happen again,” he says.
“When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” Trump tells reporters.
“They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”
Around midnight: Multiple outlets report the suspected gunman is Cole Allen, a 31-year-old teacher and video game developer.
He is facing two firearm-related charges, including a count of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.
One Secret Service officer was shot while pursuing Allen after he charged a checkpoint in the hotel.
The officer was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and is recovering, according to officials.
Details emerge of a manifesto and letter he sent to relatives before his attack on the WHCA dinner.
He allegedly wrote of his plan to target Trump administration officials and that he felt “rage” thinking about the administration’s actions in office.
He also appeared to refer to Trump as a “traitor”.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” he allegedly wrote.
8:46am: Trump takes to Truth Social again to claim the incident is proof he needs a large, safe, and secure ballroom built on the grounds of the White House.
“This event would never have happened with the Militarily Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House,” he says.
“It cannot be built fast enough! While beautiful, it has every highest level security feature there is plus, there are no rooms sitting on top for unsecured people to pour in, and is inside the gates of the most secure building in the World, The White House.”
3:46pm: The president announces on Truth Social that he will appear on the US 60 Minutes program in mere hours for a televised interview.
7pm: Trump sits down with reporter Norah O’Donnell and calls her a “disgrace” for reading out part of the suspected shooter’s manifesto on air.
“I’m no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” O’Donnell reads from the manifesto.
Trump responds: “I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would, because you’re terrible, terrible people.
“I read the manifesto. You know, he’s a sick person. But you should be ashamed of yourself reading that because I’m not any of those things,” he says.
“You shouldn’t be reading that on 60 Minutes, you’re a disgrace.”
He later jokes that the NFL should sign Allen after watching footage of his dash through the hotel and shrugs off political violence.
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