The aftermath of the shooting that sent Secret Service agents rushing President Trump from the dais at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night played out on social media as videos were widely shared of the chaotic and surreal scenes.
An investigation was continuing about the motive of the gunman, identified by two law enforcement officials as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif. He was taken into custody after running through a security checkpoint and exchanging gunfire with the authorities.
In a ballroom packed with hundreds of journalists who cover the White House, many of them sprang into action with their cellphones and television news cameras to capture what had happened.
‘Shots will be fired tonight’
In a clip that was widely shared, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, happily told a reporter from Fox News before the dinner that the president’s speech “will be classic Donald J. Trump.”
“It’ll be funny,” she said. “It’ll be entertaining.”
And, she added: “There will be some shots fired tonight in the room. So everyone should tune in. It’s going to be really great.”
The clip fueled questions about the authenticity of the shooting and whether her comment was some kind of eerie foreshadowing. One social media user said of the clip, “Well this aged poorly.”
‘It was the most surreal thing’
On his Instagram stories, Matt Gutman, a CBS News correspondent, shared a video of himself that was taken by the CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins in which he stood up from his table and recorded the fallout as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
He also captured the chaotic moment outside the Washington Hilton as law enforcement officers rushed the perimeter.
“Secret Service, men with long guns, subautomatic,” he said as the glare of police lights flashed on his face. “We did not hear the shots very close to the stage, but we saw what happened, everybody ducked for cover. Um, a hush in the crowd. Security forces pouring in. It was the most surreal thing.”
‘It was pure chaos inside this room’
Moments after the shooting, Ms. Collins of CNN shared her view from inside the hotel ballroom’s main aisle where she calmly stood and described “where we saw Secret Service agents rush down the aisle in order to go evacuate the president and many members of his cabinet who were interspersed around the room during the dinner.”
“It was pure chaos inside the room as that happened,” she added, pointing to her table “which was not far away” from where dozens of agents descended with “massive weapons.”
‘Man eating his salad’
Brian Stelter, the chief media analyst for CNN, shared a video of Michael Glantz, an agent at Creative Artists Agency, and said that he “is the man eating his salad in this viral video.”
Mr. Glantz appears to be calmly chowing down alone at a table as another guest cowers on the floor nearby and a news reporter is heard in the background rattling off the names of the top officials who attended the event.
‘They are refilling the water glasses’
Jonathan Karl, the chief Washington correspondent at ABC News, described how some of the barriers at the ballroom that were knocked down by agents were being rebuilt and then turned his attention to the waiters at the main table onstage where the president, the first lady, Melania Trump, and their guests had been seated earlier.
“They are actually refilling the water glasses,” he said with a small laugh, “so it looks like this dinner might actually be resumed after that incredibly frightening moment.” (The dinner was canceled after the shooting and will be rescheduled, according to Mr. Trump.)
‘They had a really rough night, too’
Eena Ruffini, an anchor at Bloomberg, thanked the security and especially the wait staff at the hotel.
She described how some of them, as they cleared the tables, “were shaking, some of them were crying.”
“Nobody was asking how they were doing,” she said.
“Please remember there were hundreds of waiters and bus boys and catering help and all the backup house staff that helps with these events,” she said. “And they had a really rough night, too. So if you see them, please thank them and please just keep them in mind as we tell the story over the next couple of weeks.”
Johnny Diaz is a reporter for The Times covering breaking news from Miami.
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