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TRANSCRIPT
A man in his 30s from California, who was a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, is in custody after charging through a Secret Service security checkpoint that was in place for the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Jeffrey Carroll from the Metropolitan Police Department says the suspect had multiple weapons.
"He was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. As he rang through that checkpoint, members of law enforcement from the United States Secret Service intercepted that individual."
He says the suspect wasn't shot but a member of the Secret Service was hurt when struck by a bullet.
His injuries were minor because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Jeffrey Carroll says it appears the suspect was acting alone.
"We have members of the United States Secret Service, the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI here to continue to investigate this matter. But at this point it does appear he is a lone actor, a lone gunman, there does not appear to be any sort of danger to the public at this time."
President Trump thanked the Secret Service for its swift response.
"It's not the first time in the past couple of years that our republic has been attacked by a would-be assassin who sought to kill. In Butler, Pennsylvania less than two years ago, you all know that story, then Palm Beach, Florida, a few months after that, we came close, we really had, again, we had some great work done by law enforcement. But in light of this evening's events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences, peacefully."
FBI Director Kash Patel also praised the work of the Secret Service agents who acted quickly.
"You saw brave Secret Service agents respond immediately, swiftly, subdue and take down the suspect and safeguard the lives of thousands of individuals at that hotel. Thanks to our interagency partnership with the Department of Homeland Security and the Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI was rapidly deployed onto the scene, took over the evidence response unit, is examining all the ballistics that were found on scene to include the long gun and the shell casings."
The United States Attorney for Washington, Jeanine Pirro, says the suspect will be put before a federal court next week. [[Monday, US time]]
"It is clear, based upon what we know so far, that this individual was intent on doing as much harm and as much damage as he could and thankfully because of the checkpoint, right outside the ballroom, where thousands of people were situated to hear the president of the United States, because that checkpoint worked there was no one who was injured when it was clear where this defendant was going."
Mr Trump says the annual event will be rescheduled within the next month.
"We're going to reschedule, we're going to do it again. We're not going to let anybody take over our society. We're not going to cancel things out because we can't do that. We wanted to stay tonight, I will tell you I fought like hell to stay but they, it was protocol. They said 'please, sir.'"
