Inside the White House Correspondents' Dinner when shots rang out

Politics Inside the White House Correspondents' Dinner when shots rang out: Here's what CBS News journalists saw and heard. By Nicole Brown Chau Nicole Brown Chau Deputy Managing Editor Nicole Brown Chau is a deputy managing editor for CBSNews.com. She writes and edits national news, health stories, explainers and more. Read Full Bio Nicole Brown Chau Updated on: April 27, 2026 / 11:52 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google When a gunman charged a security checkpoint outside the hotel ballroom where the White House Correspondents' Dinner was taking place Saturday night, reporters in the room quickly reacted, sharing what they knew with the public.Some heard gunfire. Some only heard a loud noise and the response from security officials. They didn't immediately know the suspect had been tackled and detained. They didn't know if a threat was ongoing or not. Here are some of the first-hand accounts from CBS News journalists at the dinner:Weijia JiangAs the president of the White House Correspondents Association, senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang had a unique position Saturday night. She was sitting next to President Trump at a long table on the dais.Just before the incident, Jiang said she and Mr. Trump watched mentalist Oz Perelman do a trick on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, claiming he could guess the name of her unborn baby. "At that very moment, we heard commotion. I looked out in the audience and thought there might have been a heckler. But I didn't see one," Jiang recounted."Before I could make sense of what was unfolding, armed agents rushed toward the dais. They multiplied quickly, sprinting from the other side of the stage to surround us. I heard shouts of 'down, down, down, get down,'" Jiang wrote. "I got out of my chair and was following Trump when he hit the ground. I got on my hands and knees too. Only later did I see a big bruise on my left knee. I was crawling, and we were ushered behind the stage." Read Jiang's ful...