Shots were allegedly fired as United States President Donald Trump attended a press dinner in Washington on Saturday night, witnesses and AFP reporters said as loud bangs were heard at the hotel venue.

Guests at the black-tie White House Correspondents' Dinner scrambled to hide under tables.

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Tactical teams with guns drawn took position on the stage where Trump had been sitting during dinner before he was evacuated. Police swarmed the Washington Hilton Hotel where the event was taking place, and helicopters hovered overhead.

CNN and other US media reported Trump was unhurt.

The pool report said an alleged shooter was in custody, citing the Secret Service, but the report was not officially confirmed.

Unconfirmed reports suggested one person was injured, though details about the cause of the injury were not available.

The incident erupted after the welcoming speech and during dinner, before Trump was due to speak.

Trump administration officials appeared to have been evacuated first and uncertainty remained as to what exactly happened.

A cabinet official, Mehmet Oz, said "shots fired upstairs" as he was rushed out by security.

The Washington Hilton where Saturday's gala was taking place was the site where Republican President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.

Organizers told guests that the White House Correspondents' Dinner would continue despite the incident.

Trump was attending the event for the first time while in office.

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The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) invited Trump this year despite his repeated attacks on the media. The move had drawn backlash across newsrooms, and hundreds of journalists signed an open letter asking attendees to call out Trump's press restrictions.

Unlike all other presidents from the past 100 years, Trump has never attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner while in office, until now.

The "Nerd Prom", as attendees dub it, brings together hundreds of Washington journalists and media executives to raise funds for scholarships and awards.

Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing a rally goer and lightly wounding the president in the ear.

In the Butler shooting, Trump was grazed on his right ear when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop while the Republican presidential candidate was holding a campaign rally in Butler on July 13.

One person in the audience was killed and the gunman, Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.

A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round