Bucks Co. Congressman Recalls 'Chaos' At Correspondents' Dinner Shooting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Bucks County Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who was attending Saturday night's White House Correspondents' Dinner when a gunman broke through a checkpoint and fired a weapon, said he immediately recognized the sound of gunfire and knew something was wrong.

Inside the banquet room at the Washington Hilton, Fitzpatrick said panic soon followed as guests ducked under tables and President Trump, the First Lady, and others at the head table were rushed from the stage by the Secret Service, including Fitzpatrick's fiancée, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich.Fitzpatrick said he immediately recognized the sound of gunfire and knew something was wrong.

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"Honestly, I was concerned about Jacqui. She was at the head table; that was all I cared about. I tried to get back, but the Secret Service assured me that she was okay," he told Action News.

Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, reportedly ran through a security checkpoint and fired a weapon before being taken into custody, according to CNN.

According to police, two firearms and multiple knives were recovered when he was arrested, and a Secret Service officer was injured and taken for treatment for non-life-threatening injuries.

Allen was formally accused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump, interstate transportation of weapons and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime in federal court April 27, NBC and others report.

"I am grateful that the President, First Lady, Vice President, Second Lady, and everyone in attendance here with us are safe — including my fiancée," wrote Fitzpatrick on his Facebook page.

"Tonight could have ended very differently. The Secret Service and law enforcement officers on scene acted without hesitation and with extraordinary professionalism. In a moment of danger and chaos, they brought courage, calm, and order to the entire room. I am deeply grateful for their service," he wrote.

Fitzpatrick, who served with the FBI before being elected Congressman, told Action News the incident raises questions about holding high-profile events in hotels, where security screening areas are often located deep within the building.

"Unlike a lot of other venues, sporting events, for example, the security and the magnetometers are well into the interior of the facility, but outside the event," he told the news agency. "You have people that are not part of the event, not credentialed, not screened, but yet still in the building."