A Secret Service officer was wounded after an armed suspect breached a D.C. hotel security checkpoint, forcing the evacuation of the president.
WASHINGTON — The White House Correspondents’ Association’s annual gala was abruptly canceled Saturday night after an armed suspect breached an interior security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, discharging a weapon, wounding a U.S. Secret Service officer, and triggering an emergency evacuation of President Donald Trump and senior government leaders.
The confrontation halted the premier social and political gathering of the Washington calendar, transforming a black-tie ballroom into an active crime scene within seconds. Federal authorities and the Metropolitan Police Department immediately opened a sweeping multi-jurisdictional inquiry into how the gunman reached a secure magnetometer corridor directly adjacent to where the commander in chief was scheduled to deliver remarks.