Wolf Blitzer recounts his “terrifying experience” when shots were fired during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night.
The longtime CNN anchor spoke up USA Today after the incident, saying he was near the gunman who stormed a security checkpoint and entered the Washington Hilton ballroom with multiple weapons.
“I feel fine. I’m just scared. It was scary,” he recalls. “I was a few feet away from the gunman when he was shooting. It was loud. It was scary. The police overpowered him and then overpowered me to protect me. Then they took me away to a safe room, the men’s room. It was just a scary experience.”
Blitzer also appeared live on CNN after it all happened to explain the details of his experience. He said he was returning to the hall at the time, and then he “heard three or maybe six gunshots” and the sound was “very loud.”
The journalist added, “When the policeman pushed me to the ground, I said to myself: ‘I wonder if I was the target or something else.’ Thank God I wasn’t, because I wasn’t shot. I was thrown to the ground and protected.”
After the shooting, 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen was later identified as the suspect and was quickly taken into custody. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro confirmed in a press conference that the suspect will be charged with using a firearm and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, and that there will likely be “many other charges” in the future.
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, who were sitting on stage at the time of the incident, were also removed from the hall. He later shared details surrounding the shooting at a White House press conference, revealing that an officer was shot but was saved by a bulletproof vest.
Trump added that he plans to reschedule the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The president added: “We will do it again. We will not allow anyone to control our society. We will not cancel things because we can’t do it.” “We wanted to stay tonight. I’ll tell you, I fought hard to stay, but that was protocol.”
