New Delhi:
Indian journalist and Newsmobile editor-in-chief Saurabh Shukla said he remembers ducking under the table almost on instinct when an attacker opened fire outside a ballroom where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was being attended by US President Donald Trump.
Shukla told NDTV‘s Shiv Aroor that when gunshots were heard outside the ballroom on Saturday night, he saw Secret Service agents at the back of the room running with their guns out. “The visuals are still playing in front of my eyes. We saw everyone at the head table being evacuated. At that time, we ducked under our tables. Around 15-20 minutes later, we were told to evacuate,” he said.
Over 2,000 attendees at the annual press dinner were evacuated from the hotel through emergency exits and kitchens onto to streets filled with emergency vehicles and choppers hovering above, Shukla recalled.
Shukla credited the Secret Service for being able to stop the attacker from entering the ballroom, failing which a crisis would have unfolded.
Ever since the attack, Washington DC has become a fortress, the journalist told NDTV. “Sources tell me raids are being conducted to look for accomplices. There is a heavy blanket of security, with agents roaming the streets with their weapons out. Many roads are blocked,” he said.
Shortly after the attack, Trump said the show must go on and called for the reconvening of the event, though it was later called off for security reasons. “Today, we saw a resilient side of Trump,” Shukla said.
At a presser at the White House later, Shukla asked what corrective measures can be taken to avoid such attacks in the future. The President responded, “You can have the greatest security in history. If you have a whackjob, whose brain is distorted, they can be trouble. Some of these people are of genius level IQ and they are nuts. He (the attacker) was fast, he was like a blur. But they (Secret Service) didn’t let him through. I will continue to do a great job, that’s all I can do.”
Trump said one security officer was shot at but saved as he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California, has been arrested and will be arraigned in court on Monday on firearm and assault charges. He was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives.
Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing an audience member and lightly wounding the president in the ear.
A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.