Live: Shooting Reported Outside White House Correspondents' Dinner, Trump and First Lady Safe
Live: Shooting Reported Outside White House Correspondents' Dinner, Trump and First Lady Safe
President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President JD Vance were among those evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner after reports of shots fired during the event.
The U.S. Secret Service confirmed one person is in custody after the incident at the Washington Hilton. Footage from the scene showed authorities swarming into the hall after the apparent gun shots as the hundreds of journalists and officials in attendance ducked under tables.
A "God Bless America" chant could be heard from a corner of the room as Trump was being escorted off the stage. He fell briefly and was helped up by Secret Service agents.
WHCA President Weija Jiang said the event Saturday night will be postponed. She read a statement from the president saying that no one was hurt and everyone was safe.
A screen grab taken from a video filmed by an AFP reporter shows armed agents climbing over chairs as they move to the stage after loud bangs were heard during the White House Correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2026. Shots were fired as US President Donald Trump attended a press dinner in Washington on Saturday night, witnesses and AFP reporters confirmed. Loud bangs were heard and guests at the black-tie White House Correspondents' Dinner scrambled to hide under tables. (Photo by Danny KEMP and AFPTV teams / AFP via Getty Images)
MY HUSBAND LEFT ME AND MY DISABLED BROTHER TO DROWN. THEN MY BROTHER STOOD UP.
THE LAST THING MY HUSBAND SAID BEFORE ABANDONING US
“The more you fight that door, Valerie, the faster you’ll drown.”
Julian said it almost casually.
Then he climbed through the driver’s window and disappeared into the freezing river.
I froze.
Water rushed into the SUV.
My brother Mason was trapped in the back seat.
“Julian!”
I slammed against the passenger door.
“Come back! Mason is still inside!”
He never looked back.
Minutes earlier, we had been driving toward Sterling Shipyard when Julian suddenly jerked the wheel.
The SUV smashed through the guardrail and plunged into the river.
It wasn’t an accident.
I reached for my seat belt.
It wouldn’t release.
I felt underneath the seat.
Wire.
Someone had deliberately locked the mechanism.
My blood ran cold.
Then I saw Julian on the riverbank.
And he wasn’t alone.
Chloe.
My half-sister.
She stood beneath a black umbrella, one hand resting on her pregnant stomach.
Julian walked straight into her arms.
They looked at the sinking SUV.
At us.
Then Julian smiled.
Three years of marriage shattered in one second.
The secret phone calls.
The endless business trips.
The lies.
Chloe appearing at every family gathering.
They had been together all along.
And now they had left us to die.
“Mason…”
My voice broke.
“I’m sorry. I brought him into our family.”
The water reached my chest.
Then something hit the back of my seat.
Once.
Twice.
I turned.
And stopped breathing.
Mason was standing.
Standing on both legs.
The legs I had believed were useless for fifteen years.
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a compact rescue cutter.
“Not now, Val.”
He sliced through the wire holding my seat belt.
“What happened to your legs?”
“Later.”
He pulled me free.
The SUV was almost completely submerged.
Mason forced open the rear door and dragged me into the freezing water.
I swam toward the surface.
He grabbed my arm.
“Not there.”
He pointed toward the riverbank.
Julian and Chloe were still watching.
Mason pulled me beneath an abandoned pier.
We surfaced in the darkness between two concrete supports.
I gasped for air.
Mason pressed a finger to his lips.
“Julian can’t know we survived.”
I stared at him.
“You’re walking.”
“I know.”
“For fifteen years…”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were crippled.”
His face hardened.
Then I saw the pain in his eyes.
“Valerie…”
He looked toward the distant riverbank.
“Mom and Dad’s crash wasn’t an accident.”
My entire body went cold.
“What did you just say?”
Mason tightened his grip on my arm.
“Julian didn’t just try to kill us tonight.”
He leaned closer.
“He finished what he started fifteen years ago.”
I stared at him.
“Come with me.”
And for the first time that night, I realized the sinking SUV was only the beginning.
