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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, safe and uninjured and still in his tuxedo, said at the White House two hours later. “They seem to think he was a lone wolf.” There was no immediate indication of any other involvement, and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By JOSE LUIS MAGANA
ä See SHOOTING, page 10A
SATURDAY @ JAZZ FEST
NOW AND THEN Little Freddie King, who has played almost every Jazz Fest, reigned one more time
BY KEITH SPERA Staff writer
Little Freddie King’s reign isn’t quite over. The venerable New Orleans blues guitarist and singer performed at the very first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, staged in what is now Armstrong Park in 1970. He’s played just about every Jazz Fest since. But whether he MORE @ would make it to 2026 Jazz Fest JAZZ FEST the as scheduled on Saturday was, for INSIDE months, in doubt. ä John ‘Papa’ On Sept. 19, King and his band reGros: The corded a live album making of a at BJ’s Lounge, the New Orleans Bywater watering piano player. hole that functions Page 1D as his home base. Ten days later, ä Sunday’s the 85-year-old cubes. King’s new electric bicycle bucked Page 10D and threw him. He landed hard. When ONLINE “ Wa c k o ” Wa d e Wright, his drummer and manager for three decades, arrived, he found King stretched out on the sidewalk, unable to stand. “The only thing he told me was, ‘Take my money out of my pockets and save it,’” Wright recalled. Spinal compression had damaged King’s nerves. He had no strength in
President Donald Trump speaks at the White House after a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington on Saturday.
‘I’m just excited. I’m optimistic’ Moreno reflects on first 100 days in office
BY JONI HESS Staff writer
STAFF PHOTO By DAVID GRUNFELD
Little Freddie King reflects before his set in the Blues Tent during the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans on Saturday. his legs, and his hands were numb. So he couldn’t walk. And he couldn’t play guitar. He spent 40 days at a rehabilitation center and another 20 at a nursing facility learning to use a rolling walker. Back home, he fell while using the walker. He’s been confined to a wheelchair ever since. “He shouldn’t go out
like this,” Wright said. “But it’s the way it is.” Wright canceled all upcoming gigs on King’s calendar, including the French Quarter Festival in mid-April, while trying to keep his spirits up. He held out hope that King would
ä See KING, page 6A
The thought of tapping an unused lawsuit settlement to repair broken streetlights struck Mayor Helena Moreno at 3 a.m., one morning a few weeks into her term. She wondered if the Entergy fines the City Council levied years earlier would be enough to make a dent in the city’s backlog of downed interstate lighting. She texted Erin Spears, the head of council’s utility regulatory office, who confirmed the fund still had almost $3 million. She called her former at-large colleague on the council, JP Morrell, so he could get the ball rolling on his end. And her ‘Lights On’ Moreno initiative came to life. It’s just one example, Moreno said last week, of how the power of the Mayor’s Office can be wielded to chip away at the city’s infamous shortcomings. “What is very exciting about this job is you do have the ability to call the shots, to move things quickly — as slow or as fast as you want to,” Moreno said. “You, the mayor, has that power.” Moreno’s administration wrapped its first 100 days in office this month, a juncture politicians often tout to show their early progress and to set the tone for the rest of their terms. She marked the occasion in grand fashion — a ceremony at Gallier Hall, a prepared speech, and a glossy published report of checked-off to-dos. A day later, in a wide-ranging interview in her office at City Hall, she spoke candidly
ä See MORENO, page 4A
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Business ......................1E Deaths .........................3B Nation-World................2A Classified ..................... 2F Living............................1D Opinion ........................6B Commentary ................7B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
13TH yEAR, NO. 257