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Shooting sparks chaos at D.C. dinner Trump unharmed; Landry describes evacuation at White House correspondents’ event BY SEUNG MIN KIM, AAMER MADHANI, COLLIN BINKLEY, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and DAVID BAUDER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — A man armed with guns and knives stormed the lobby outside a high-profile journalists’ dinner attended by President Donald Trump and multiple senior U.S. leaders on Saturday night, rushing toward the ballroom before Secret
Service agents swarmed him and took him into custody. The president was uninjured and was hustled away. Guests went diving under tables as the scene unfolded and some reported hearing shots outside the vast subterranean ballroom in the Washington Hilton where the event was being held. One law enforcement official said a gunman had opened fire. A law enforcement officer was shot in the
bullet-resistant vest but is expected to be OK, several sources told The Associated Press. The shooting suspect — described by Trump as a “sick person” — was identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the AP. “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” Trump,
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House after a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington on Saturday. ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA
ä See SHOOTING, page 6A
Federal decision impedes plan to raise La. homes
Mall video appears to show armed suspect Baton Rouge police detail investigation, arrest
BY PATRICK SLOAN-TURNER Staff writer
PHOTO PROVIDED By U.S. ARMy CORPS OF ENGINEERS
A home was recently raised in Lake Charles as part of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pauses elevation studies
Army Corps of Engineers is casting uncertainty over those efforts. The Corps has frozen studies examining potential home elevations, including three in Louisiana, while it determines whether those types of projects should continue to be part of BY MIKE SMITH its mission. A top Army official has Staff writer also noted concerns over the costs of Louisiana has increasingly looked to a major home elevation project that is home elevations as a way of dealing ongoing in southwest Louisiana. The pause has left it unclear if the with flood risk in areas where largescale levee projects are not cost-effec- Corps or some other agency will eventive, but a recent decision by the U.S. tually carry out thousands of voluntary
home elevations already approved under flood protection plans statewide, including in St. Tammany Parish and along the state’s south-central coast in Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin parishes. State officials have been urging the Corps to complete the three studies that had been nearly finished before they were paused. Those studies were looking at ways to address flood risk in the Lafitte area, along the Amite River
ä See HOMES, page 7A
Video recordings of the fatal Mall of Louisiana shooting on Thursday appear to show Markel Lee, 17, holding a semi-automatic pistol during the event, Baton Rouge police say. Lee was arrested Friday and charged with one count of first-degree murder, five counts of attempted murder and one count of illegal use of a weapon. According to an arrest warrant issued Friday, detectives saw Lee on multiple surveillance videos from inside the mall near the food court where the mass shooting took place. Investigators said one angle “clearly showed that this subject was holding an object appearing to be a semi-automatic pistol in his right hand.” In reviewing video from inside the mall and the exterior, detectives saw Lee flee the scene and enter a vehicle. License plate scanners were able to identify the car, and the vehicle’s registration information gave investigators the owner’s address. After executing a search warrant, detectives showed a screenshot of the video, in which the suspect appeared to be holding a gun, to his grandmother, who confirmed it was her grandson, Lee. Martha Odom, a 17-year-old high school student from Lafayette, was shot in the chest and later pronounced dead at Our Lady of the Lake hospital. Five others were injured, including Donnie Guillory, 43, who was in critical condition as of Friday evening. Police said the shooting took place after an argument between two groups. It is still unclear how many shooters were involved as well as how many weapons were
ä See SUSPECT, page 7A
WEATHER HIGH 86 LOW 72 PAGE 8B
Business ......................1E Deaths .........................4B Opinion ........................6B Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Nation-World................2A Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 300