Donald Trump's four-word takedown of would-be assassin as shots fired at White House Correspondents' dinner

Donald Trump issued a brutal four-word takedown on the suspect who stormed the lobby outside the White House correspondents' dinner and forced the US President to evacuate. Cole Tomas Allen , 31, was named as the shooting suspect and was arrested at the scene after a ballroom full of around 2,500 guests - including Donald Trump , Melania Trump and senior US politicians - turned into chaos. The Secret Service rushed Trump off stage and he was uninjured in the attack. Shocking CCTV footage from the lobby at the Washington Hilton hotel caught the suspect running past a security checkpoint outside the ballroom. One officer was shot at close-range but survived due to his bulletproof vest, officials said. The incident unfolded at around 8:35pm local time (1:35am UK time), on Saturday night, but around two hours later Trump held a press conference where he slammed the suspect. The US President branded the suspected gunman a "lone wolf whack job". Speaking at the White House, Trump 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." On the suspect, Trump also said: "He's a sick person, very sick person, and we don't want things like this to happen." The US President added: "Nobody told me this was such a dangerous profession. If Marco [Rubio] would have told me maybe I wouldn't have run, maybe I would have said I'll take a pass." This incident was the third time since 2024 that Trump had been under threat by an attacker in his immediate vicinity – including the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, that injured him and killed a local firefighter. The US President added: "Today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before." But Trump also said: "We’re not going to let anybody take over our society." Police said the suspect, from Torrance, California , was armed with multiple weapons, including a shotgun, handgun and knives. Officials added that he was not on the radar of law enforcement and had no criminal record. The US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said the suspect is expected to appeared in court on Monday and be formally charged with several offences, including using a firearm during a crime of violence. Allen, according to his LinkedIn profile, was a part-time teacher who was also a video game developer. His online profile said he worked part-time as a teacher at a test prep and tutoring company, named C2 Education. The company had awarded Allen " teacher of the month " in December 2024, according to posts on social media.