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S u n d ay, a p r i l 26, 2026
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Shooting sparks chaos at D.C. dinner Trump unharmed, Cabinet members evacuated at White House correspondents’ event BY COLLIN BINKLEY, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and DAVID BAUDER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an
unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries, and one law-enforcement official said a shooter had opened fire. Authorities said the incident occurred outside the ballroom where Trump and other guests were seated. The event was scrapped and will be rescheduled. “We will do this again,” said
An Acadiana connection to ‘forgotten hero’
Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Corespondents’ Association. Shortly afterward, staff began breaking down table settings and the presidential lectern. The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Audible gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests re-
alized something was happening. Hundreds of journalists got on phones to call in information. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as Trump was escorted offstage. He fell briefly — he apparently tripped — and was helped up by Secret Service agents.
A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter. A law enforcement officer was shot in the bullet-resistant vest but is expected to be OK, one law-enforcement officer told The Associated Press. Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five
ä See DINNER, page 4A
DANCE, DANCE
Festival International de Louisiane keeps the crowds on their feet
Helicopter pilot who stopped My Lai massacre settled in Lafayette area BY JOANNA BROWN Staff writer
Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, is not from Lousiana. But he did spend the last several years of his life in Lafayette, making his way down to Acadiana on a well-worn path — meet a Cajun woman, retire, settle down in bayou country. Before that, the Stone Mountain, Georgia, native lived anything but an ordinary life. On the ground in one of the most destructive conflicts of the modern era, Thompson stepped into history when he and his crew stopped the My Lai Massacre of March 16, 1968 — kicking off a story that Thompson would one day converge in Lafayette, when the “forgotten hero” met an Acadiana journalist by the name of Trent Angers. My Lai is infamous for being the largest documented mass killing of civilians by U.S. forces in the 20th century. It occurred during the war’s deadliest year, marked by shock-wave events like the Battle of Hu City, which saw United States and South Vietnamese troops fighting from house to house in an effort to retake a city of over 100,000 people. The U.S. would eventually win the battle — but thousands of civilians died, and the conflict’s brutal nature had been captured on film for the world to see. Thompson arrived in Vietnam at the end of 1967 as a Chief Warrant Officer with the 23rd Infantry Division. In the middle of March, a couple of weeks after the Battle of Hu City ended, his company was deployed for a seek-and-destroy mission against the Viet Cong 48th Battalion, thought to be hid-
ABOVE: Barrett Province and Melanie Walker dance to music by Louisiana band Boma Bango during Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette on Saturday. LEFT: Members of Vieux Farka Toure’s band, from the country of Mali, perform during Festival International de Louisiane in Lafayette on Saturday. PHOTOS By PAUL KIEU ä See more photos from the Festival International de Louisiane. PAGE 1B
ä See ‘HERO’, page 8A
WEATHER HIGH 86 LOW 74 PAGE 6B
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101ST yEAR, NO. 300