It sounded like the muffled popping of champagne corks in rapid succession, but no one opens bottles that fast.
They reverberated from the hotel foyer and through the open main door into the Washington Hilton ballroom, where I was sitting at one of the tables closest to the entrance.
With my dinner companions, I was in the middle of starting a sweepstake on how long President Trump would speak for and guessing which news outlet he would roast the most.
‘I think he’s going to speak for…’ someone said, trailing off as the shots broke out.
We looked at the open doorway, wondering if it was going to be followed by a lunatic running through and unloading.
Diving for the floor, I squashed under the table with several other guests, sending flying what remained of our burrata salad starters. Wine glasses went tumbling, a woman nearby lost her heels, chairs overturned and half-empty bottles rolled across the carpet.
For several moments, lying under the table, we looked at each other silently, wondering if there would be more shots. Then, lifting a flap of the white tablecloth, I saw armed men come storming through the doorway. They ran past our table and down the aisle, clambering over other tables and past prone dinner guests.
As they grabbed a man with grey hair, my first thought was that he must be the shooter, but he turned out to be a high-profile politician. At the other end of the room, the President had by now been bundled out, pushed so hard by a Secret Service agent he almost fell over.
Several gunshots rang out as panicked attendees immediately ducked under their tables to protect themselves. A few journalists stayed seated or knelt, filming the chaos
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, is thought to have been targeting members of the Trump administration when he charged into the ballroom at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night. Above, after he was tackled to the ground and arrested
What appeared to be agents in night goggles were now standing on the dais where he had been sitting, pointing their weapons in the direction of the diners.
An uneasy silence hung over the cavernous room, with the occasional head poking out from under a table. Someone shouted ‘USA’ and tried to start a chant, but it fell flat.
I hesitated to get my phone out to start filming in case the agents thought it was a gun. Instead, I moved from under the table and walked to the main entrance, through which the sound of the shots had come. It was now closed with a security guard, dressed in black, in front of it.
Mike Bell, the guard, told me: ‘You can’t go out, there’s a man down out there on the other side of the door. I don’t know if he’s dead. Secret Service are cleaning it up. It’s up one flight of steps where the magnetometers [security metal detectors] are.
‘I heard the shots and got down. I don’t know how many shots it was. After they came in, a Secret Service guy tapped me on the shoulder and told me to go lock this door. I got here, and I could smell the gunfire on the other side. I know what that smells like.
‘I normally work the magnetometers, but the Secret Service took that over for this tonight. I don’t know what side of the mag the shooter was on.’
Soon, agents were rushing top officials up the aisle, passing within a few feet of my table, and out another exit. Pete Hegseth, the War Secretary, was among the first, striding out with a face like thunder.
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, whose father Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in a hotel, looked grim.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed determined, while FBI director Kash Patel looked calm amid the chaos.
House Speaker Mike Johnson being rushed out of the venue by Secret Service members
Another image showed Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and his wife Cheryl Hines ducking as they ran to safety
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Minute-by-minute break down of how Washington’s most glamorous gala descended into night of calamity
Patel, who was a guest of the Daily Mail alongside his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, had told others at the table to get down when the shots rang out.
When it was safe to stand back up, Patel and Wilkins asked bystanders if they were OK, before being escorted out of the ballroom by his security detail.
In a room full of journalists, rumours immediately began spreading like wildfire. Was it even gunshots at all? Some speculated it could have been prank sounds from a tape recorder.
Others had heard it was an Iranian terrorist, while more pointed the finger of blame at noisy anti-war protesters outside the hotel. But soon, all anyone was asking was how the gunman was able to get so close.
There is no doubt that security at the event was sorely lacking. I was amazed that I hadn’t had to show any form of ID to enter the venue. All that was required was to flash a paper ticket in the vague direction of a security guard when walking into the parking lot.
Indeed, anyone staying at the hotel did not even need that to access the event, they simply had to show a room key card.
From the car park, I walked inside the hotel and did not have to show a ticket again until I reached an escalator, where one security person was attempting to check several tickets a second.
The first and only set of magnetometers was separated from the main ballroom entrance by one short flight of stairs leading down to it. If he had got past the magnetometer, a gunman could have been into the ballroom in just a few seconds.
In another picture, several Secret Service agents were seen with their guns drawn as they gave people orders
First Lady Melania Trump appeared shocked just before the dinner descended into chaos
Marco Rubio posted this behind-the-scenes image from Saturday night in the White House
Presidential appearances at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner go back decades, and the security operation should, by now, be a well-oiled machine.
Yet, during a time when the US is at war with Iran, checks appeared minimal.
Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance were at the event, further begging the question of why security was not tighter.
When the event is rerun in 30 days’ time, it will have to be.
