White House Correspondents’ dinner shooting: Witness describes seeing suspect pull out ‘long gun’

A server at the Washington Hilton described the moment she saw a suspected gunman rush toward security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner where President Donald Trump and other Cabinet members were present. Flavienne, a server at the venue, told The Independent how she was pushing a service cart into an elevator with another female employee on Saturday night when a man dressed in a suit to blend in with attendees took out a long gun and opened fire at least three times. "The lady was behind me, she was working with me. She [was trying to] push the cart [in the elevator]...The guy passed just close to her. Just like you pass like this -- and then he pulled out the gun, the long gun. He shot that gun immediately, like three shots.” A man with short brown curly hair, identified in a picture posted by President Donald Trump on Truth Social, was taken into custody by law enforcement. He was identified as a 31-year-old California man named Cole Tomas Allen by law enforcement sources. A Secret Service agent was shot in the incident, but is expected to be OK. The suspect was apprehended before getting to the ballroom where Trump was on the stage. The suspect has now been detained and charged with two federal crimes.Journalists and VIPs at Saturday night’s even were looking forward to Donald Trump’s first attendance at the annual celebration of the Washington press corps., and the performance of Oz Pearlman, the evening’s headliner. Instead, a scene of shock, confusion and panic played out only moments after the national anthem ended and color Guard filed out of the ballroom. Five loud, unmistakable gunshots rang out from the hallway area immediately connected to the central entrance of the main ballroom. The New York Times reported that a 31-year-old California man named Cole Tomas Allen was taken into custody at the scene. A security guard who prevented journalists from seeing the hallway where the shooting took place was unable to describe it to reporters who clustered around the exit, eager for details about the scene.