We were there: We heard gunshots and duck shots in the shelter during the DC gallery shooting

WASHINGTON – Right outside the Washington Hilton ballroom, as the annual White House Correspondents’ Assn. Dinner started on Saturday, a Times reporter had just entered the men’s room when he heard a faint noise.

“Shooter!” someone shouted. “Get down! Shots fired!”

Inside the ballroom, thousands of journalists and politicians began to search as the event turned from a celebration of free speech to a place of fear.

The Times had six reporters at the dinner, sitting at a table near the right of the stage.

The Times reporter in the bathroom, Gavin Quinton, heard the gunshots around 8:30 p.m. He had left The Times desk a few minutes ago, walked past the TV cameras and walked up towards the entrance to the ballroom courtyard. He crossed paths with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.

Outside the bathroom, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, broke into a metal detector, security footage would later show, arriving within meters of the ballroom door.

Five or six shots fired by Secret Service agents missed Allen before agents took him down near the stairs leading to the main floor, where Trump sat prominently.

A federal agent was hit in the chest during the shootout but was wearing a bulletproof vest and was not seriously injured.

Inside the living room, Quinton is crouched near the corner. Others rushed into the room, including three hotel security guards who quickly threw themselves with their backs against the tiled wall. Moments later, a Secret Service agent positioned himself at the bathroom door, his gun drawn.

“How much is the head?” he asked.

“Twelve – no, 15!” someone shouted back.

People kept locking themselves in the toilets. Others tried to overcome poor cell phone service to call loved ones. Confused, a mix of tuxedo-clad attendees, uniformed hotel security guards and wait staff tried to piece together what had happened.

“He was carrying a gun,” said one of the hotel security guards.

Another witness told Quinton that at first he thought Blitzer was the shooter’s intended target.

“I looked around and heard a gunshot and opened the door, I turned to see him,” said the man about the gunman. “I look back and I’m like, ‘Oh, they shot someone.’ “

Blitzer, who was thrown to the ground by the police during the incident, will later say that “the first thing that came to my mind was if he was going to shoot me.”

While the group was speculating whether the shooter had died in the volley, another man was wondering if the event would continue. At first thinking the gunman must have been killed, Quinton answered no.

“Why not?” asked the man. “He’s a dead bad boy. It was a f–ing good ending. Seriously.”

The Washington Hilton has hosted an annual writers’ dinner for decades. The event, called “Nerd Prom,” now features a slate of pre- and after-parties.

This was the president’s first appearance at the dinner since 2015; he had been outnumbered throughout his first term.

Questions now revolve around security agreements. Guests faced a small check to enter the hotel on Saturday – a quick flash of a paper ticket – before heading down an escalator to the only area with magnetometers, where bags were also searched.

Trump entered the ballroom at 8:15 pm as the Marine band played “Hail to the Chief.”

Twenty minutes later, the videos show, Secret Service officers wearing ballistic vests and long guns barked orders to clear the way as they ran onto the field and onto the stage.

One agent pulled over Vice President JD Vance. Someone who was accompanied by Trump, who appeared to be leaving, but later explained that he had been asked to get down.

Other officials — Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, Homeland Security adviser Stephen Miller — were also quickly fired.

At The Times table in the ballroom, nothing seemed amiss at first.

The waiters were just starting to clear the plates of spring pea and burrata salad. The reporters did not hear the gunshots, but watched as the room fell silent as others began to fall from their seats and duck under white tablecloths that reached the floor.

One journalist lost his shoe during the process, and was afraid that the gunman would see it. He dragged it under the table.

They stayed in the area for several minutes, writing to their loved ones and waiting for the clear, but no one came.

Under the tablecloth, the reporters heard someone shout, “God bless America! USA!” They fear that he is the one who shot.

It turned out to be Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff. The song didn’t catch on.

Finally, others were heard talking loudly and the dishes were ringing. The guests began to peek under their tables and rose cautiously. Uncomfortable laughter floated about the ballroom.

Cell phone service inside the ballroom was spotty. There was initial confusion as to whether there had been a shooting incident or whether the falling plates had been mistaken for a shot.

“I thought it was a drop tray,” Trump said later.

Shortly before 9 p.m., Weijia Jiang, chief White House correspondent for CBS News and president of the White House Correspondents’ Assn., told guests that the program “will resume shortly.”

Half an hour later, Jiang returned to the stage and announced that law enforcement had asked the guests to leave the venue. He said Trump told him no one was hurt and that he, the first lady and members of the Cabinet were safe.

Concluding his remarks, Jiang said that journalism is a public duty “because when there is an emergency, we run away from the problem – not away from it.”

“And on a night when we think about the freedoms of the 1st amendment, we should also think about how fragile they are,” he said. “I’ve seen you all reporting, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Law enforcement and media leaders have given conflicting guidance. Quinton was among the first to leave the building, although many guests stayed inside for a long time.

When he got out, he saw that the metal detector had already been partially dismantled when the shooter ran.

Quinton walked past the gunman who hit the ground, holding himself in the stomach, near the stairs about 20 feet from the bathroom door. He picked up his phone and recorded a short, moving video of the scene before security escorted him out of the hotel and onto the street.

All kinds of emotions were on display when security finally ordered everyone out. Women in dresses run in fear. One man tore up the sleeves of his evening jacket.

Photos on social media showed others stopping to take selfies. Others drank wine from a bottle.

Quinton saw a procession of presidential motorcycles outside the hotel lobby at about 8:45 pm At that time, an ambulance arrived as about 100 attendees were being escorted out of the event’s secure area.

Other law enforcement officials were inside the hotel as guests exited the building, including agents from the Secret Service, ATF, FBI and Department of Homeland Security. National Guard soldiers replaced celebrities and politicians at the entrance of the red carpet.

Outside, city police escorted people north on Columbia Road NW. Hungry tourists in tuxedos entered the nearest 7-Eleven. The main dinner – beef and Maine lobster – was not yet cooked.

At the White House afterward, Trump said the event would be rescheduled.

“We will not allow anyone to take power in our society,” he told reporters who rushed to the press conference while still wearing black gowns and ties. “We will not cancel things because we cannot do that.”

Meanwhile, the after-night gatherings continued, although the organizers attempted a somber tone. MS NOW, for example, told those who RSVP’d that their “Democracy After Hours” party would be “a place for friends and colleagues to come together.”

Freelance journalist Tara Palmeri posted a photo on social media X of a party filled with blue mood lighting.

“People were still partying, they were still throwing parties at WHCD last night,” he wrote. “Epstein’s corruption, the escalating Iran conflict, and an active shooter- and Washington … continued. The dissonance of understanding the system.”

On Sunday morning, the Washington Hilton appeared to be back to normal, except for the presence of journalists who use the hotel as a backdrop for their live footage.