Catríona Perry, Chief Anchor of BBC News in Washington and a former RTÉ journalist, has given her eyewitness account of the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
Ms Perry was in the middle of the room when US President Donald Trump and his cabinet were rushed out before the suspect was taken into custody.
Speaking to RTÉ's Brendan O'Connor, she said the guests heard a "commotion" outside and the doors "burst open".
"There was kind of a kerfuffle of breaking glass and crockery and tables being knocked over," she said.
"Secret Service agents rushed up this middle aisle beside the table where I was with guns drawn and shouting: 'Everyone take cover'.
"Everybody jumped under the table in the dining room and the agents kept running towards the podium where the President was seated with members of the White House Correspondent Association, the First Lady and the Vice President.
"At the same time, agents rushed in from the side of the stage as well, bundled everyone up there onto the floor, got the President, the First Lady and the Vice President out."
Ms Perry said that because the shots were fired outside the dining room, the sound was mostly muffled and many people would likely not have even heard it.
"I'm sure some people were terrified because it's not what you expect when you're in your finery and starting into the first course of a dinner, expecting this night of celebration and party ahead of you," she said.
"Even after the agents came in, you could hear a couple of shots, so it was unclear at that point was there a gunman in the room, was the person outside of the room, how many people are there, are they about to come in, is it one of those incidents where people are about to pop up from the table as well, how orchestrated is it?
"There was a lot of law enforcement officials with very large guns around the room and standing on the podium with their eyes peeled, so it was just that moment of confusion and a sense of not knowing what's going on."
Ms Perry said that while they were not explicitly given the all clear, it became obvious that there was no threat in the room and guests gradually began to emerge from under the tables.
She said a decision was made to try and proceed with the evening once it was established that everyone was safe, but eventually the room was declared a crime scene and everyone had to leave.
"It's a very, very divided country right now," she said.
"Particularly in the political world, it's very, very tense."
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