United States President Donald Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington, DC, on Saturday evening after shots were fired outside the event, according to Antigua News Room.

Trump was rushed offstage at the Washington Hilton hotel after gunfire broke out outside the ballroom where the annual media gala was being held. The president, First Lady Melania Trump, and members of the Cabinet were unharmed in the attack.

At a news conference following the incident, Trump said a man armed with multiple weapons had charged a security checkpoint and was "taken down" by the Secret Service. Trump described the suspect as a "very sick person" and a "thug" who had attacked the US Constitution.

A Secret Service officer was shot during the attack but was saved by his bulletproof vest and was "doing great," Trump said.

"As you know, this is not the first time in the past couple of years that our republic has been attacked by a would-be assassin who sought to kill," the president told reporters.

Asked whether he believed he was the target of the attack, Trump responded: "I guess."

The Secret Service confirmed the shooting occurred at a "screening area" and that one individual was taken into custody. "The condition of those involved is not yet known, and law enforcement is actively assessing the situation," the agency said.

Shortly before his news conference, Trump posted images on Truth Social of the suspect lying face down on the ground, along with surveillance footage showing a man running past security personnel before officers drew their weapons and opened fire.

Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said the suspect would be charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on federal officers using a dangerous weapon. FBI Director Kash Patel said investigators had begun examining the suspect's background and urged members of the public with relevant information to come forward.

"No piece of information is too small; no piece of information is inadequate. We will evaluate it all," Patel said.

Multiple US media outlets identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.

Trump, a fierce critic of journalists who has sued multiple media outlets, had been due to speak at the annual celebration of press freedom for the first time in his current presidency. Footage from the venue showed Trump and other attendees taking cover behind their table as shots rang out, with people shouting "Get down!" and "Stay down!" before heavily armed members of his security detail swarmed the area and rushed him from the scene.

Al Jazeera producer Chris Sheridan, who was present at the event, said he heard what he believed to be five gunshots outside the ballroom. "We could smell the powder. We immediately dove to the ground. It was directly behind me," Sheridan said, adding that while security around the ballroom itself was at "airport-level," anyone with a ticket to the dinner could enter the hotel and access the lower level where the ballroom was located.

World leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, condemned the attack and expressed relief that Trump was unharmed. "Violence has no place in a democracy and must be unequivocally condemned," Modi wrote on X.

Saturday's incident marks the latest in a series of threats against the president. During the 2024 presidential campaign, gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight shots at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one bystander and wounding Trump's right ear before being shot dead by the Secret Service.

Trump pledged that the correspondents' dinner would be rescheduled rather than cancelled. "We're not going to cancel things out, because we can't do that," he said. "We wanted to stay tonight. I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay… But it was protocol. They said, 'Please, sir.'"