Gunfire Erupts at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

In Washington, Erin Thielman was caught in a frightening moment as she stepped out of the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. She had just dialed her son when she suddenly heard gunshots, witnessing the Secret Service spring into action during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting.

Thielman, an Air Force veteran attending the event with her husband, Jason, was near the security perimeter when the suspect, identified as Cole Allen, made a run for it.

“I’d just said, ‘Hey, kid’ to my son when I heard three loud bangs,” she shared. “A gunshot. I turned to my left and saw a Secret Service agent with his weapon drawn. It seemed he fired a shot.”

“He was right in front of me,” she recalled after the Secret Service detained Allen, 31. “The would-be assassin just collapsed on the ground, hands in front of him.”

“I managed to escape the scene,” she added.

Thielman, who has disabilities affecting her knees and shoulders, noted the ballroom’s entrance was a level higher than the ballroom itself, and she had moved up to gain better reception.

Prior to the suspect’s capture, she had seen him running. “He had this strange look and was dressed oddly, with a magazine worn crossbody like a bag. Then, he seemed to panic and just fell to the ground right in front of me,” she said.

After witnessing the chaos, Thielman rushed back to find her husband, thinking it was a miracle she made it down the stairs. “As a veteran, it’s reminiscent of combat,” she reflected.

As she hurried to the banquet hall, she shouted, “guns, guns, shooters, shooters,” which led security to lock the doors.

Later, she found herself under a table, realizing her son had been on the phone the whole time, anxiously waiting for her to return.

Thielman and Jason reconnected, choosing to stay despite the danger. “We thought if we left, it would feel like we let him win. So, we decided to stay until the Secret Service escorted us out,” she remembered.

Officials later revealed Allen had traveled from California and booked a stay at the Hilton. He was reportedly armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knife.

The suspect, who holds a master’s degree from Caltech, is set to face charges on two accounts: using a firearm in an assault and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.

In a manifesto, Allen allegedly referred to himself as a “friendly federal assassin,” stating his mission included targeting government officials, except for FBI Director Kash Patel.

“I won’t let pedophiles, rapists, and traitors get away with their crimes anymore,” he allegedly wrote.

Thielman expressed gratitude that no one was killed, with only one Secret Service agent sustaining minor injuries from a bullet that struck his vest.

“Before the chaos, there was such a feeling of unity among everyone at the event, but afterward, it transformed. People stopped seeing political divisions and just focused on surviving the night,” she reflected.

“Politics vanished, and we were just people working to get through the evening,” she added.