WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump had taken his seat on the dais just a few minutes earlier and was talking with other VIPs when a series of loud bangs rippled through the jam-packed Washington Hilton ballroom.
Chaos erupted at one of Washington’s premier social events, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Guests in tuxedos and evening gowns ducked for cover under tables. Secret Service agents rushed the dais and quickly evacuated Trump and first lady Melania Trump from the room. Banquet chairs toppled and maroon napkins scattered across the floor. The strong smell of gunpowder hung in the air. Some people prayed.
Trump, making his first appearance at the dinner in more than a decade and his first ever as president, was whisked back to the White House. Later, still dressed in black tie and tux, he told reporters at a news conference that he had first thought the loud bangs had been caused by a waiter dropping a serving tray.
“It was either a tray or a bullet,” he said. “I was hoping it was a tray. But it wasn’t.”
