US President Donald Trump was reported uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were rushed off stage from an annual dinner of White House correspondents after an unspecified threat at the venue.
Authorities said the incident occurred outside the ballroom where Trump and other guests were seated. It was not immediately clear what happened.
One law enforcement official said a shooter opened fire in the hotel, the Associated Press reported, although there did not immediately appear to be any injuries.
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Trump confirmed on social media: "The shooter has been apprehended".
He posted shortly after the incident, calling it "quite an evening".
"Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job," he wrote.
"They acted quickly and bravely."
Trump said he wanted the event to continue but he would be "entirely guided by Law Enforcement".
"Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we'll just, plain, have to do it again."
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests dining on burrata salad sought cover under tables by the hundreds.
“Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others shouted to seek cover.
From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as Trump was escorted off stage. He fell briefly — he apparently tripped — and was helped up by Secret Service agents.
Guest evacuating the ballroom had to step over many broken plates and glasses.
A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter but no further details were immediately available. All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated.
Organisers were attempting to resume the dinner.
Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five to eight shots fired.
The banquet hall — where hundreds of prominent journalists, celebrities and national leaders were awaiting Trump's speech — was immediately evacuated.
Members of the National Guard took up position inside the building as people were allowed to leave but not re-enter. Security outside was also extremely tight.
It was not immediately clear what happened.
A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter but no further details were immediately available. Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Generally, the Hilton hotel, where the dinner has taken place for years, remains open to regular guests during the White House Correspondents' Dinner.
Security has typically been focused on the ballroom and rather than the hotel at large, with little screening for people not entering the dinner itself.
In past years, that has created openings for disruptions in the lobby and other public spaces, including protests in which security moved to remove guests who unfurled banners or staged demonstrations.
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro posted a short video from the hotel after the incident, saying, “I have been taken out of the ballroom after the sound of the shots fired.
"The Secret Service is now in charge of this building, this hotel. I just spoke to Mayor Murial Bowser. She is on her way and (Police) Chief Jeffery Carroll is on his way.
"He will be in charge as soon as he gets here.”
Event was about to take place
Trump's attendance at the annual Washington dinner for his first time as president had earlier been expected to put his administration's often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.
Trump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.
He arrived to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities and journalists in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socialising together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.
The president was being watched closely at the event held by the organisation of reporters who cover him and his administration.
Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in light roasts about individual journalists. The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second.
He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as then-president Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer.
Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.
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