Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has condemned the attempted attack on US President Donald Trump in Washington during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening.
‘Violence is never the way,’ the socialist (PSOE) leader wrote on the social media platform X.
‘We condemn the attack that took place tonight against President Donald Trump,’ Sánchez wrote. ‘Violence is never the way. Humanity will only advance through democracy, coexistence and peace.’
Meanwhile, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the main opposition group, the right-wing People’s Party (PP), also expressed his ‘strongest condemnation’, both personally and on behalf of his party, of the ‘attack suffered’ by Trump. ‘Political disagreement is resolved with words, not bullets. Let us defend democracy,’ he wrote on social media.
Other world leaders also rushed to wish Trump well and condemn Saturday’s violence.
President Emmanuel Macron of France wrote on X: ‘The armed attack targeting the president of the United States last night is unacceptable. Violence has no place in a democracy. I extend my full support to Donald Trump.’
Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, wrote on X, ‘I am relieved that the president, the first lady, and all guests are safe’.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer sent Trump a letter of solidarity and said that he was shocked by the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
In a post on X, Starmer wrote: ‘Any attack on democratic institutions or on the freedom of the press must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. It is a huge relief that President, the First Lady and all those attending are safe.’
Discussions are under way between Buckingham Palace, the UK government and the White House about King Charles’s state visit to the US following the shooting in Washington.
Officials are discussing whether the state visit, or at least parts of it, should be altered as security is reviewed. King Charles and Camilla are due to arrive in Washington on Monday.
‘Lone wolf’
President Trump and the first lady had been rushed from the stage after gunshots rang out at the hotel where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was taking place on Saturday night.
Secret Service agents swarmed the stage at the Washington Hilton after a gunman carrying multiple weapons charged a security checkpoint.
At a press briefing from the White House about 90 minutes later Trump, still dressed in black tie, said a suspect was in custody and that he appeared to be a ‘lone wolf’. The president described him as a ‘very sick person’.
Saturday’s incident marks the third attempt on Trump’s life in less than two years. In the first, in Pennsylvania, a sniper struck the president in the ear; in the second, he was targeted while playing golf in Florida.
A Secret Service agent was saved by his bulletproof vest during a confrontation with the suspect on Saturday evening in Washington. The officer was hit and taken to a hospital, where he was stabilised.
Cole Tomas Allen, the apprehended suspect on Saturday, reportedly told law enforcement that he had been targeting Trump administration officials, following his arrest.
Allen largely declined to answer questions, ABC News reported. He mentioned that he was a tutor in California, officials said.
The suspect did not specifically say that he was targeting Trump, just ‘administration officials’, a law enforcement source said.
During Sunday, social media posts, official records and local interviews shed further light on the suspected gunman.
According to various reports, US federal campaign finance records stated that Allen, 31, donated $25 to the Democratic Party in 2024, in support of Kamala Harris for president.
Social media posts also showed that the arrested teacher was also an amateur video game developer in his spare time and claimed to be working on a combat game set in outer space.
A former lecturer described Allen as ‘very polite, a good fellow’. In an interview with Associated Press, Bill Tang, a computer science professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, said: ‘He was a very good student indeed, always sitting in the first row of my class, paying attention, and frequently emailing me with coursework questions. Soft spoken, very polite, a good fellow. I am very shocked to see the news.’
Allen undertook a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering.
Late on Saturday night and in the early hours of Sunday, the FBI and Secret Service were searching a two-storey property connected with Allen in Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles with about 140,000 residents.
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Condenamos el ataque que se ha producido esta noche contra el presidente @realDonaldTrump.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) April 26, 2026
La violencia nunca es el camino. La humanidad solo avanzará a través de la democracia, la convivencia y la paz.
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