Questions mount as journalists stroll through DC shooting site unrestrained

Within a matter of hours, two MS NOW journalists were able to walk through and document the scene of the Saturday shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD), sparking confusion among critics who questioned why the area had not been restricted by law enforcement.

The annual WHCD – attended for the first time by President Donald Trump while in office – was disrupted Saturday at the Washington Hilton hotel by a suspected shooter, later identified as 31-year-old California resident Cole Allen. And yet, despite the suspect reportedly penning a manifesto naming Trump and his top officials as targets, two MS NOW journalists apparently had no issue walking onto the site of the shooting.

“I was covering the red carpet last night when shots rang out,” wrote MS NOW reporter Julia Jester Sunday in a social media post on X. “This morning after law enforcement left the Hilton, my MS NOW News producer [Lillie Boudreaux and] I (to our surprise) were able to walk into the scene.”

That journalists were able to enter the scene of the shooting so soon after the incident left some critics dumbfounded.

“Able to walk into the scene less than 24 hours after a shooter attempted to breach the WHCD. I've been to gas station murder scenes where crime tape was up longer,” wrote journalist and podcast host Grant Hermes in a social media post on X.

Jester also shared exclusive photos and video of the scene, which showed discarded first aid materials strewn across the carpet floor at the hotel. The video and photos also showed large, square holes cut out from the hotel’s wall, which Jester claimed were bullet hole sites. Law enforcement often removes sections of wall at the site of bullet holes to better preserve evidence.

“[The shooting occurred] right after entering doors from the red carpet area (where many Trump admin officials mingled), right by staircase to ballroom level,” Jester wrote in a follow-up social media post. “Underscores just how close this scary night was to being even scarier.”