A shooting suspect who stormed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was targeting US President Donald Trump and his top officials, authorities believe.

Trump and wife Melania were evacuated from the glitzy ballroom at the Washington Hilton when shots were fired at Saturday’s glitzy dinner.

The shooting suspect — described by Trump as a “sick guy” and “whack job” who “hated Christians” — has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, a part-time teacher and game developer.

Allen is accused of storming the lobby outside the annual journalists’ dinner, armed with guns and knives. Secret Service agents swarmed and quickly took him into custody.

Cole Tomas Allen is pinned to the floor after storming the lobby. Photo: Donald Trump

In Allen’s manifesto, which was emailed to his family members 10 minutes before the shooting, he refers to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin”, according to US media reports.

The lengthy missive revealed Allen’s plan to kill Trump administration officials and said he was willing to kill “most everyone” in the room on his murderous mission.

Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and many other leaders of the Trump administration.

“These are crazy people. These are crazy people, and they have to be dealt with,” said Trump in an interview with Fox News.

“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians.”

Trump said Allen’s family had previously expressed concerns about him to law enforcement officials.

“Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behaviour; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes,” his manifesto reads.

Targets listed in the paperwork included administration officials — although not FBI director Kash Patel — prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest, the official said.

The manifesto mocked the “insane” lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was held, the official said.

“Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance,” the manifesto’s author reportedly wrote.

“I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.”

Donald Trump gestures as he addresses media after the shooting. Photo: AAP

ABC Washington correspondent John Lyons attended the gala and told News Breakfast he was shocked by the lack of security when he arrived, only having to show his ticket.

Lyons said there was less security at the Washington Hilton event than at a domestic Australian airport.

He called it an “extraordinary lapse” that left top government officials vulnerable.

Guests were dining on a spring pea and burrata salad when the noise began. Trump said he initially thought it was a tray dropping but some journalists believed were five to eight gunshots.

The secret service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds.

From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as Trump was escorted offstage. He fell briefly — after apparently tripping — and was helped up by secret service agents.

Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.

A law enforcement officer was shot in the bullet-resistant vest but is expected to be OK, several sources told The Associated Press.

Interviewed later, acting US Attorney-General Todd Blanche said it was believed Allen travelled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington.

He checked in as a guest to the hotel where one of Washington’s glitziest events was being held Saturday night (local time).

Blanche also said he was confident the King would be safe during his visit to the US this week.

Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him.

All officials protected by the security agency were evacuated.

It is the third time since 2024 that Trump has come under threat from an attacker in his immediate vicinity, including an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, that injured him and killed a local firefighter.

“Today we need levels of security that probably nobody has ever seen before,” Trump said. But he also said, “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society.”

Blanche said charges related to Saturday’s attack would be filed shortly and the investigation was ongoing.

Patel, flanking Trump, said the agency was examining a long gun and shell casings recovered from the scene, as well as interviewing witnesses from the dinner.

After an initial attempt to resume, the event was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.

Republican representative Mike Lawler of New York, a guest at the dinner, said he heard a pop and “we didn’t know what the hell it was. And then you heard all sorts of things clatter.”

In 1981, US president Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley jr outside the Hilton, an event that prompted redesigns of the property that increased security and added a special presidential suite near the entrance where chief executives could be taken.

Trump was dispatched there briefly on Saturday night.

-with AAP