The US president and his wife, Melania Trump, were rushed out of the White House correspondents' dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC on Saturday night after gunshots rang out.
Trump latest: President rushed to safety after gunfire at dinner
The assailant, who reportedly opened fire near the entrance to the ballroom, was quickly apprehended by law enforcement. He has been named as 31-year-old Cole Allen, from Torrance, California.
An officer was struck but was saved by a bulletproof vest, Mr Trump said. Nobody else was injured.
King Charles is travelling to the US for a four-day state visit on Monday, with the incident raising questions about his and the Queen's safety.
But on Sunday evening Buckingham Palace confirmed the trip would still be going ahead.
A statement from the Palace on Sunday read: "Following discussions on both sides of the Atlantic through the day, and acting on advice of Government, we can confirm the State Visit by Their Majesties will proceed as planned.
"The King and Queen are most grateful to all those who have worked at pace to ensure this remains the case and are looking forward to the visit getting under way tomorrow."
It is understood there will be some modest operational adjustments to one or two royal engagements during the trip, but the overall plan remains as previously outlined.
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The Palace said earlier in the day, at lunchtime on Sunday, that a "number of discussions" are taking place today with the White House to determine "what degree the events of Saturday evening may or may not impact on the operational planning for the visit".
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson added: "His Majesty is being kept fully informed of developments and is greatly relieved to hear that the president, first lady and all guests have been unharmed."
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'King Charles is coming, he's a great guy'
Mr Trump told Fox News on Sunday that King Charles would still be attending despite the shooting.
Mr Trump said: "First of all, King Charles is coming, and he's a great guy. We look forward to it. He's really a fantastic person. And a tremendous representative."
Referencing the King's battle with cancer, he added: "He's got a problem with, as you know, very well documented problem with his health, and he's been amazing. Actually, he's very brave actually.
"And he's a friend of mine for a long time. So, he's coming, and we're going to have a great time. And he represents his nation like nobody else can do it."
The King and Queen are understood to have reached out privately to Mr and Mrs Trump to express their sympathies with all affected and their gratitude to the security services for preventing further injuries.
Darren Jones, chief secretary to the prime minister, told Sky News on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that UK security services "obviously remain in close cooperation" over the King's visit.
He said Sir Keir Starmer sent a message to the president this morning in solidarity over the incident and said British Embassy staff and other Brits who were there "are very grateful to the US Secret Service for the action that they took".
Mr Trump said on Friday that he intends to raise topics including Iran, NATO and the United Kingdom's digital services tax when the King visits.
The monarch's visit will mark the 250th anniversary of US independence from Britain and he will make stops in Virginia and New York, as well as the capital where he will deliver an address to Congress.
The visit also comes as relations between the two countries are at what some have been saying is their worst since the Suez Crisis in 1956, with repeated criticism by Mr Trump of Sir Keir Starmer over his refusal to join the US attack on Iran and dismissive remarks about Britain's military capabilities.
A number of politicians and commentators have called for Sir Keir to call off the visit.
Donald Trump, first lady Melania and senior officials were quickly evacuated to safety from the annual event after several gunshots were heard outside the Washington Hilton Hotel ballroom where around 2,500 people were in attendance.
Follow live - gunfire at correspondents' dinner attended by President Trump
The suspect has been identified by US authorities as 31-year-old Cole Allen, from Torrance, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Police have said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.
Officials have said he has no criminal record and was not on the radar of law enforcement.
He is set to be arraigned on Monday, in a federal court, and was set to be transported on Sunday to a detention facility in southeast Washington DC.
Jeffrey Carroll, interim chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, said the suspect was involved in an altercation as he tried to get into the event.
The suspect exchanged shots with an officer, who was struck but was unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
He was "tackled to the ground" and handcuffed by law enforcement before being apprehended, Mr Carroll added.
Officials believe Allen was acting alone, but while his motive is unclear, Todd Blanche, acting US attorney general, said the suspect appeared to be targeting Trump administration officials, "likely including the president".
Speaking to Sky News' US partner network, NBC News, he added that he does not believe that the suspect is
co-operating with the investigation.
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Mr Blanche added that the suspect travelled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then on to Washington DC, before checking into the hotel where the dinner was held.
Suspect's background
Sky News has verified Cole Allen's LinkedIn profile, in which he describes himself as a "mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth".
According to his profile, he secured a bachelor's degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena and a master's degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.
It also says he was a summer undergraduate research fellowship student in 2014 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where he says he updated the "modelling capability for planets around several previously excluded stars".
Allen's online resume suggests he has worked for the last six years at C2 Education, a company which helps aspiring college students.
In December 2024, C2 Education said he was "teacher of the month", posting their congratulations to him on LinkedIn with hashtags including #DedicatedTeachers and #InspiringEducators.
One of his LinkedIn posts also said he was working to develop a new "top-down shooter" combat game set in outer space.
'Lone wolf whack job'
Speaking at a news conference after the incident, President Trump said he may have been the suspected gunman's target.
Earlier, Mr Trump uploaded a photo to his Truth Social platform claiming to show the alleged gunman being apprehended.
He described the suspect as a "lone wolf whack job" from California.
Suspect's writings
Asked if he knew about the suspected gunman, Mr Trump responded that Allen has "got some big problems, it's a very bad situation" after reading writings he made to his family.
"His family knew he had difficulty", Mr Trump said.
The New York Post reports that Allen sent anti-Trump writings to his family members 10 minutes before opening fire at the dinner.
Mr Trump told Fox News: "He hates Christians, that's one thing for sure... and I think his sister or his brother actually was complaining about it.
"They were even complaining to law enforcement, he was a very troubled guy."
'I apologise to everyone'
According to our US partner network, NBC News, the suspected shooter sent a note to family members before the shooting, apologising to parents, colleagues and bystanders for what he was about to do.
He wrote: "I apologise to everyone....who suffered before I was able to attempt this, to all who may still suffer after, regardless of my success or failure."
He added that he may have given " a lot of people a surprise today" and, although he did not name Mr Trump directly in the writings, he did criticise him and mentioned targeting the administration.
Administration officials were targets, the message adds, along with Secret Service agents "only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible".
He added hotel guests and employees were "not targets at all" with Capitol police, National Guard and hotel security not targets "unless they shoot me".
Radical comments
Allen's brother had made police aware of the writings after they were sent to family members, a senior administration official told NBC News.
According to the official, there was anti-Trump sentiment and the suspected gunman had described his targets as administration officials, not guests or hotel employees.
The official said he had apologised to family and friends in writing and said he does not expect forgiveness.
Allen's sister described him to law enforcement as having a tendency towards making radical comments. He would also constantly reference a plan to fix issues with the world, the official added.
She told investigators Allen had purchased two handguns and a shotgun but that her parents were unaware he was keeping weapons inside their home, the official said.
'Friendly Federal Assassin'
The suspect had also referred to himself as "Friendly Federal Assassin" in writings, a source told the news agency AP.
Police believe the suspect was a guest at the Washington Hilton Hotel where the correspondents' dinner was being held.
"We do believe he was a guest here at the hotel. We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we'll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there," Mr Carroll said.
US attorney Jeanine Pirro has confirmed the suspect has been charged with firearms and assault charges.
Saturday evening was the first time that Mr Trump has attended the correspondents' dinner as president.
He was the subject of two assassination attempts in 2024, after he left the White House in 2021 and while he was campaigning for re-election.
The most serious occurred while Mr Trump was campaigning at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
Mr Trump was shot and wounded in his upper ear by a 20-year-old gunman. The gunman was shot dead by security personnel.
The site of Saturday's dinner, the Washington Hilton, was the scene of an attempt on the life of then president Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded by a would-be assassin outside the hotel in 1981.
The ex-prime ministers, right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid, issued statements on Sunday announcing the merger of their parties, Bennett 2026 and There is a Future.
Lapid, standing alongside Bennett at a joint news conference, said: "We are standing here together for the sake of our children. The State of Israel must change direction."
Bennett said the new party would be called Together, and that he will be its leader.
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He said: "After 30 years it is time to part with Netanyahu and open a new chapter for Israel."
Their bid will commence in the upcoming election expected later this year, they added.
The duo have joined forces before, when they put an end to Netanyahu's successive 12-year tenure in a 2021 election.
But they formed a coalition with a thin majority that survived just 18 months.
Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving prime minister, made a comeback when he won the November 2022 election.
A year later, the Middle East was plunged into turmoil following Hamas's 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Israel retaliated immediately and carried out airstrikes on Gaza.
In mid-December, Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry said the death toll in the territory had passed 45,000.
Since then, polls have predicted he will lose the next election due by the end of October.
Bennett, 54, an ex-army commando turned tech millionaire, has been trailing Netanyahu in election polls.
A survey on 23 April by Israel's N12 News found Bennett securing 21 of the 120 seats, against 25 for Netanyahu's Likud.
It found Lapid's party securing only seven seats, down from the 24 it currently holds.
A United Nations (UN) fact-finding report estimated the RSF killed at least 6,000 people in three days, in a takeover that bears "the hallmarks of genocide".
Amid the clips of violent killings was a stark warning to Sudanese journalists who have covered the brutal war at home.
A video emerged of Muammar Ibrahim, a reporter known for documenting the 18-month RSF siege on his hometown Al Fashir for the Al Jazeera channel, being jostled in the darkness and forced to speak to the camera by an RSF fighter.
Another video showed Mr Ibrahim visibly terrified on his knees in the dirt.
He has been held by the RSF since they captured Al Fashir with little to no communication with the outside world.
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Around 300 independent journalists have fled Sudan out of fear of repression and retaliation since the start of the war between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023.
On 3 November 2025, a video was shared on official RSF channels of Mr Ibrahim sitting at the desk of an RSF officer who announced that the reporter would be investigated for spreading false information.
Reporters Sans Frontiers and the Committee to Protect Journalists have regularly called for Mr Ibrahim's release and protection in the six months since he was detained.
Efforts by journalists and relatives to negotiate his freedom have been unsuccessful. Reporters Sans Frontiers reports that he is being held in an undisclosed location without contact with his family or a lawyer.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the RSF-led TASIS government responded to my latest questions about Mr Ibrahim's wellbeing and whereabouts - this time in a WhatsApp group created to share TASIS press releases with journalists.
"He is in good health," said Dr Alaa Nugud. "[He] will soon be presented to legal proceedings, especially after appointing Chairperson of the Judiciary system in the Peace government last week."
"What crime is he being charged for?" I asked.
Dr Nugud responded with a series of social media posts shared by Mr Ibrahim that show support for the army and describe the RSF as a militia. An RSF siege was starving Al Fashir into famine at the time of his social media posts.
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The army, state-backed Joint Task Forces, and civilian resistance fighters were fending off RSF capture from inside the city Mr Ibrahim was reporting from.
In the weeks before Al Fashir was captured, state intelligence briefly held and questioned Mr Ibrahim before releasing him.
The TASIS spokesperson also presented the landmark prosecution of two Rwandan journalists for the use of anti-Tutsi hate media to fuel the killing of 800,000 Tutsis in the 1994 genocide.
The journalists were sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, a UN court which was based in Tanzania.
"Can you find similarity between the two cases?" Dr Nugud asked. "The judge will decide if there is or no…"
"Who is the judge? What constitution will the court be using? Do you consider Muammar a journalist, protected by International Humanitarian Law?"
There was no response to these questions. The conversation ended and what remains is serious concern over the judge, jury, and executioner in the RSF's prosecution of journalist Muammar Ibrahim.
The Sudanese Journalism Syndicate has documented 393 cases of direct violence against the media and journalists in the first year of war alone.
On 13 April, Sudanese journalist Zamzam Khatir shared on Facebook that her family home in Kutum, North Darfur was raided by the RSF. She said they looted the house and forcibly took her brothers, sisters, nephew, and several female guests to an undisclosed location.
A senior officer said the attack outside Dunmurry police station, southwest of Belfast city centre, at around 10.50pm on Saturday, is being treated as attempted murder and "may well be the work of the New IRA".
PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said in a statement: "A delivery driver's car was hijacked in the Twinbrook area of west Belfast and a gas cylinder device was placed in the boot of the vehicle. The man was ordered to drive it to Dunmurry police station."
He added the vehicle was abandoned outside the front of the station and officers "immediately and courageously ran into danger, placing themselves in harm's way" and evacuated nearby homes.
"A number of residents, including two babies, were being taken to safety by officers when the device exploded, engulfing the vehicle in flames and sending debris in all directions," he added, calling it a "cowardly attack".
Mr Singleton said there were similarities with an incident at Lurgan Police Station in March, and that the "early working hypothesis is that this [attack in Dunmurry] may well be the work of the New IRA".
He said the investigation into the attack will be led by counter-terrorism police.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack and said "those responsible will be brought to justice".
He said on X: "My thoughts are with the local community, and with the PSNI officers who work every day to keep people safe."
Brendan Mullan, chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said in a statement that the device "was sent to kill officers and cause maximum harm".
Images circulating on the social media accounts of local media and politicians show what appears to be a vehicle engulfed by flames next to the police station. No one was harmed in the explosion.
Forensic officers were examining the wreckage of a burnt-out vehicle on Sunday morning beside the station in the Kingsway area of Dunmurry.
Northern Ireland First Minister, Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill, said those behind the attack "speak for absolutely no one".
She posted on social media: "They have no vision, no support, and have nothing to offer our society. Our communities deserve peace."
DUP leader Gavin Robinson described the reports as "deeply concerning".
He added: "If this was another attempt by dissident republicans to intimidate communities and target the police, then it must be met with the full force of the law."
The UK's Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn also said he was "appalled" by the incident, calling it a "shameless and cowardly attack".
There have been a number of organisations that have used the IRA name, often prompted by ideological differences and groups splintering off.
The Real IRA, who were behind the 1998 Omagh bombing, formed in opposition to the 1997 ceasefire agreed by the Provisional IRA, the Republican paramilitaries who fought in the Troubles.
The New IRA are thought to be currently the largest and most active of the dissident republican terrorist groups in Northern Ireland and in the last few years have claimed a number of attacks.
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Last month, an explosive device that police described as "crude but viable" was at the centre of an attempted attack on another PSNI station.
A delivery driver was forced at gunpoint to transport the device to Lurgan police station in an incident blamed on dissident republicans.