Actress Patricia Heaton has urged her liberal friends to at the Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday night.
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Heaton Urges Left to Calm Radical Rhetoric
Actress Patricia Heaton has urged her liberal friends to pull back on extreme rhetoric after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday ...
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President and Vice President were among the top US government officials who were evacuated from the WashingtonHilton after shots were fired near the ballroom in an exchange between a gunman and Secret Service agents in the lobby.
Suspect Cole Tomas Allen, 31, is alleged to have fired multiple rounds but just struck one person who was a member of the Secret Service before being subdued and taken into custody.
The following morning, 68-year-old Heaton - who is best known for her work on popular sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond - took to X (formerly ) to condemn liberals who use extreme language and promote violence against their political adversaries.
Heaton is a known prominent conservative voice in Hollywood and has been outspoken in her support of Republican policies, pro-life views, is prideful of her Christian faith, and has expressed optimism for Trump's administration while advocating for national unity.
The actress wrote: 'I wasn’t happy when Clinton, Obama or Biden won, but I didn’t call them fascist/dangerous/threat to democracy. I didn’t hope someone would assassinate them.
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Actress Patricia Heaton (pictured last week) has urged her liberal friends to pull back on extreme rhetoric after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were among the top US government officials who were evacuated from the Washington FC Hilton after shots were fired near the ballroom in an exchange between a gunman and Secret Service agents in the lobby
'I went on with my life with gratitude. Friends on the left, please try this. Your life and our country will be better.'
Meanwhile, the suspect Allen, of Torrance in , reportedly charged a security checkpoint at the dinner armed with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives.
Members of law enforcement respond during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington
Suspect Cole Tomas Allen, 31, is alleged to have fired multiple rounds but just struck one person who was a member of the Secret Service before being subdued and taken into custody
Footage shows guests in tuxedos and evening gowns huddled under tables as Secret Service patrol the ballroom floor
'I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. What I got (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing,' he continued.
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The radicalized teacher described a 'sense of arrogance' at the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the dinner was held.
'The security at the event is all outside... because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before,' Allen wrote.
He said that the security was so lacking that, 'if I was an Iranian agent, instead of an American citizen, I could have brought a damn Ma Deuce in here and no one would have noticed sh**.'
Allen wrote that national guardsmen would only be targets if they fired at him first. Members of the National Guard are pictured responding to the shooting
Allen wrote in his manifesto that Secret Service agents would only be targets if necessary and that he would try to incapacitate them 'non-lethally if possible.' A Secret Service agent is pictured shouting during the shooting
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Ma Deuce is a nickname for the M2 Browning .50-calibre machine gun.
Earlier in his manifesto, Allen explained why he had attempted to break into the dinner and kill top Trump administration officials.
'I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,' he wrote, likely in reference to President Donald Trump. He said that as a citizen of the US, what his representatives do reflects on him.
The suspected shooter added that he had wanted to take action for a long time, 'but this is the first real opportunity I’ve had to do something about it.'
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