Erika Kirk was rushed out of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner after gunfire erupted at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday evening. “I just want to go home,” the Turning Point USA CEO said as she was escorted out of the event following the shooting.
“I just want to go home,” Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative icon Charlie Kirk, was heard saying through tears in a video, after suspected shooter Cole Allen stormed a security checkpoint at the hotel — where the WHCD was being held in the ballroom — reportedly with a shotgun, handgun, and several knives.
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The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner — which transpired about 20 minutes after President Donald Trump arrived — comes more than seven months after Erika Kirk’s husband was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University on September 10.
President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and Vice President JD Vance, among a slew of other senior White House officials, were urgently evacuated from the high-profile event after the alleged gunman opened fire.
Other alarmed guests — including D.C. reporters — were seen ducking under tables after the shooting erupted, in likely anticipation of more to come.
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As Breitbart News reported, the 31-year-old suspected shooter wrote a manifesto and attended a No King’s protest, according to a senior Trump administration official.
Trump addressed the public after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, saying the proposed White House ballroom would be drone- and bulletproof and a much more secure venue for important events, such as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News that it appears Allen traveled from Los Angeles to Chicago, then to Washington, DC, via train and checked into the Hilton a day or two before the event.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.