Zachary Levi has detailed the commotion and confusion inside the White House Correspondents' Dinner amid the shooting on Saturday.
The Shazam! star was a guest at the annual event at the Washington Hilton ballroom on Saturday, which was interrupted when a 31-year-old gunman rushed a security checkpoint and fired at agents before being apprehended.
Levi, who was seated at USA Today's table, shared his insider perspective shortly after the shocking incident.
"We were sitting at the table and there was some loud banging that definitely caught my attention," he said in a video interview with the outlet. "In the back of my head, I thought, you know, jokingly thinking, 'That kind of sounds like gunshots.' But that wasn't necessarily confirmed. It could have been some things in the hallway, some tables that were falling, that were banging down. I don't know."
He continued, "The next thing we saw, everybody started to turn and drop. There was commotion. Everybody started to kind of hide under tables and the Secret Service were pouring in and trying to get to anyone of importance - anyone in the administration, any legislators, including the president. They were getting them all out of there as quickly as they could."
After President Trump, his wife Melania, and other members of the administration were evacuated from the building, "everything seemed to calm down" inside the ballroom.
"Everyone started popping up from the tables - we didn't know what was going on," he shared, before expressing confusion about the decision to continue with the event. "I don't know, it's very confusing because if it was an actual active live shooting, then I don't know why we would necessarily be continuing with the dinner."
The rest of the event was ultimately cancelled due to safety protocols and will be rescheduled in the coming weeks.
One Secret Service agent was shot in the chest but was saved by his body armour. Nobody else was harmed during the shooting.
The suspect will appear in court on Monday.
