Authorities later identified the suspect as a 31-year-old, who lived in Los Angeles and worked as a teacher and video game developer.
US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after shots were fired outside the hall.
The American officials are safe and the lone gunman who fired the shots has been identified and arrested, Mr Trump later said.
Mr Trump said the suspect was “armed with multiple weapons.”
PREMIUM TIMES reports that authorities later identified the suspect as 31-year-old Cole Allen, who lived in Los Angeles and worked as a teacher and video game developer.
CNN showed the video of how security officials rushed at Mr Trump on stage to protect him and rush him out of the venue. He fell briefly while being escorted out.
The shooter’s motive has yet to be confirmed at the time of this report. The American was a guest at the Washington Hilton Hotel where the dinner took place.
“Preliminary information. We do believe he was a guest here at the hotel,” CNN quotes the Interim Chief at the Metropolitan Police Department, Jeffery Carroll, as saying at a news conference late Saturday (US time).
