The silent, terrifying moment a gunman rushed security at the W.H. correspondents' dinner

U.S. newsThe silent, terrifying moment a gunman rushed security at the W.H. correspondents’ dinnerNo one was hurt inside the ballroom where President Trump was set to speak, but the gunman's ability to get so close raised concerns from security experts.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Add NBC News to GoogleBlanche gives timeline of suspect's movements ahead of correspondents' dinner shooting01:18Get more newsLiveonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 27, 2026, 7:57 PM EDTBy Rich SchapiroThe rush of guests entering the White House correspondents’ dinner was over, and now Helen Mabus, a volunteer ticket checker, had a moment to herself. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.“It was very quiet,” she recalled. But just then a man out in the corridor caught her attention: He was holding what she quickly realized was a rifle. Before she could react, he tore off toward the security checkpoint about 40 feet away. “He either unfolded a part of the gun or pieced it together,” Mabus said. “It became longer before my eyes. And within seconds, he was shooting.”At that moment, Erin Thielman, an Air Force veteran attending the dinner at the Washington Hilton Saturday evening, was ascending the staircase leading from the ballroom entrance to the upper level where guests were screened. She was calling her son who was babysitting her other two children.Erin Thielman, an Air Force veteran, attended the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C., with her husband on April 25.Courtesy Erin Thielman“I heard three or four really loud bangs, and I saw this man charging towards me,” she said. “He was carrying a shotgun.”In an instant, the gunman went down, landing at Thielman’s feet.“I didn’t even have to take a step to touch him,” she said. “I could have just bent down.”The man was motionless, lying facedown with his hands flat on the ground and the gun beside his shoulder, Thielman said. She raced down the stairs assuming he had been shot. But officials have said that wasn’t the case — the gunman fell to the ground as the Secret Service agents he sprinted past opened fire.“Maybe he just decided it was really a bad idea, and he was going to fall down in a defenseless position,” Thielman said. “I don’t know.”A photograph shared on President Donald Trump's Truth Social account of the alleged gunman outside the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.via Truth SocialWhat is clear is that the gunman — identified by authorities as Cole Allen, 31, a paying guest at the Hilton — bypassed multiple layers of security at an event attended by President Donald Trump, several top Cabinet officials and more than 2,500 journalists, politicians and other VIPs.Allen hit the ground at the top of a staircase that led down to the entrance of the ballroom where all those guests dressed in evening wear were packed around tables awaiting an evening of lobster and speeches. The sound of gunfire set off a terrifying scramble as Secret Service and private security officers vaulted over chairs to reach the people they were charged with protecting and others hid under tables. But no one inside the ballroom was hurt, so the Secret Service did its job, security experts say. The only injury was to a Secret Service agent who took a bullet to his vest and will survive.Still, that an amateur gunman acting alone made it as close as he did to the president has prompted some security…

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