‘Shots will be fired’: White House press secretary Leavitt’s remarks ahead of shooting goes viral

Posted on by Taiwo Adebulu
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3 min readApr 26, 2026 05:57 PM IST

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Ahead of an armed man storming the lobby outside the White House correspondents dinner attended by US President Donald Trump, press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s “there will be some shots fired tonight” remarks have gone viral after a shooting scare disrupted the annual dinner event.

White House press secretary Leavitt, speaking before the dinner, had described the evening as “funny” and “entertaining” while adding that “there will be some shots fired tonight in the room.” It is the timing of this statement that has drawn widespread traction as a shooter later attacked the White House press dinner venue.

When asked by a reporter from Fox News about President Trump’s address, Leavitt said: “He is ready to rumble, I will tell you. This speech tonight will be classic Donald J Trump. It’ll be funny, it’ll be entertaining. There will be some shots fired tonight in the room. So everyone should tune in, it’s going to be really great.”

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What Trump said on shooting incident

After the attacker, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from California who officials said was a guest at the Washington Hilton where the dinner was being held, fired shots, President Trump was rushed off the stage with guests diving under the table as US Secret Service agents had a chaotic encounter.

Trump, who was uninjured in the incident, said “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone. They seem to think he was a lone wolf.”

A video posted by Trump showed the suspect running at the dinner venue in White House, dodging the security barricades and secret service agents running towards him. Police have said that the gunman, who was tackled to the ground by security personnel, was not injured and is being evaluated at a hospital.

Agents covered President Trump and First Lady Melania in place before escorting them from the room. Vice President JD Vance was evacuated from the room first.

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