United States President Donald Trump was evacuated from the White House correspondents’ dinner in Washington, DC, after shots were fired outside the event.

Trump was rushed offstage at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday evening after gunfire broke out outside the ballroom where the annual media gala was taking place.

The president, First Lady Melania Trump, and Trump’s Cabinet were unharmed in the attack.

In a news conference after the incident, Trump said a man armed with multiple weapons had charged a security checkpoint and was “taken down” by the Secret Service.

Trump described the suspect as a “very sick person” and a “thug” who had attacked the US Constitution.

A Secret Service officer was shot in the attack, but he was saved by his bulletproof vest and was “doing great”, Trump said.

“As you know, this is not the first time in the past couple of years that our republic has been attacked by a would-be assassin who sought to kill,” the president said.

“In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully,” Trump said.

Asked by a reporter if he believed he was the target of the attack, Trump responded: “I guess”.

The Secret Service said the shooting had occurred at a “screening area” and that one individual was in custody.

“The condition of those involved is not yet known, and law enforcement is actively assessing the situation,” the agency said.

Shortly before his news conference, Trump posted images on Truth Social of the suspect face down on the ground, as well as a clip of a surveillance video showing a man running past security personnel, who then drew their guns and opened fire.

Jeanine Ferris Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said the suspect would be charged with using a firearm during a crime or violence and assault on federal officers using a dangerous weapon.

FBI director Kash Patel said officers had begun examining the suspect’s background and urged members of the public with any relevant information to come forward.

“No piece of information is too small; no piece of information is inadequate. We will evaluate it all,” Patel said.

Multiple US media outlets identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.

Trump, a ferocious critic of journalists who has sued multiple media outlets, had been due to speak at the annual celebration of press freedom for the first time as president.

Footage from the dinner’s venue showed Trump and other attendees taking cover behind their table after shots rang out, as people yelled “Get down!” and “Stay down!”

Trump was then rushed from the scene as heavily armed members of his security detail swarmed the table.

Al Jazeera producer Chris Sheridan said he heard what he believed to be five gunshots outside the ballroom.

“We could smell the powder. We immediately dove to the ground. It was directly behind me,” Sheridan said.

“I couldn’t tell how many feet away, but it was definitely behind the doors to the entrance to the ballroom.”

Sheridan said that while there was “airport-level” security around the ballroom itself, anyone with a ticket to the dinner could enter the hotel and descend to the lower level where the ballroom is located.

“You could have gotten down to the lower level, the ballroom level, and been outside,” he said.

World leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the attack and expressed their relief that Trump was unharmed.

“Violence has no place in a democracy and must be unequivocally condemned,” Modi said in a post on X.

Trump has been targeted in multiple assassination attempts, including a near-miss shooting during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Thomas Crooks fired eight shots at Trump during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one bystander and wounding the then-candidate’s right ear, before he was shot dead by the Secret Service.

“Today, we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said at Saturday’s news conference, before pledging to reschedule the press dinner.

“We’re not going to cancel things out, because we can’t do that,” Trump said.

“We wanted to stay tonight. I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay… But it was protocol. They said, ‘Please, sir.’”

[Aljazeeera]

Twelve days after defeating Rajasthan Royals [RR] by nullifying Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sunrisers Hyderabad [SRH] defeated them in spite of an astonishing innings from the boy wonder.

Sooryavanshi scored his second IPL hundred, getting there off just 36 balls, and struck a six every third ball before his dismissal. The rest of RR’s batting, however, struggled around him. Sooryavanshi made 103 off 37 balls, and his colleagues and extras combined to score 125 off 83.

Punjab Kings (PBKS) overpowered Delhi Capitals (DC) and pulled off the highest successful T20 chase in an IPL bash where 265 met 264. They mowed down the target with six wickets and seven balls to spare. The opening blitz from Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh – they hit 116 together in the powerplay – and captain Shreyas Iyer’s chancy yet composed 71 not out off 36 balls upstaged KL Rahukl’s unbeaten 152 off 67 balls on a flat Delhi pitch.

Before the start of the chase, ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster had PBKS’ win probability pegged at 14.83%. It zoomed up to 65.35% after Arya and Prabhsimran went on a ruthless boundary-hitting spree in the powerplay. Both openers fell in successive overs to spin, but Shreyas then took charge of the chase and increased that count to 100%.

Rahul’s knock could’ve been cut short on 12 had Shashank Singh not dropped a regulation catch at deep square leg. Shashank lost his shape and ended up knocking the ball away to the boundary. After dropping at least three chances in their previous game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Shashank spilled another chance on Saturday, leaving coach Ricky Ponting upset in the dugout.

Shashank fumbled again in the fifth over of the powerplay, running to his right from sweeper cover and letting the ball roll into the boundary. By the time the powerplay ended, DC ran away to 68 for 1, their highest powerplay score this season.

Rahul was responsible for 35 of those from 16 balls, having repeatedly hit the ball over the top. Rana was also quick off the blocks, moving to 22 off 13 balls. Prabhsimran and Arya later made those powerplay scores look pedestrian.

In the past, Rahul often slowed down after the powerplay, but on Saturday, he didn’t allow the momentum to let up. He step-hit Yuzvendra Chahal for six over long-on in the seventh over and proceeded to step out of his crease and pick the legspinner away for back-to-back fours in the 11th over. By then, Rahul had already raised his half-century off 26 balls. He got another life on 51 when he popped up a return catch, but Vijaykumar Vyshak couldn’t hold onto it.

Rahul went on to bring up his fastest IPL century, off 47 balls. He reached the landmark with a drilled drive down the ground off Marco Jansen in the 15th over. He celebrated by crossing his arms in the form of an ‘X’ and had more than 28,000 fans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium celebrating with him.