DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado leaders are reacting after President Donald Trump and other top U.S. officials were evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner after a shooting incident on Saturday evening.

Officials said the incident occurred when a gunman opened fire in the lobby entrance of the Washington Hilton, which was outside the ballroom where Trump and other guests were seated.

All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated and uninjured. Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and many other leaders of the Trump administration.

Colorado leaders from both parties reacted to the incident throughout Saturday night.

Here’s what they had to say.

Rep. Jeff Hurd

Rep. Hurd on X said the following:

“Grateful for the law enforcement officers and first responders who acted quickly to keep people safe following the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“Violence has no place in our politics. It must be condemned clearly and consistently.

“Keeping all those involved in my prayers tonight.”

Senator John Hickenlooper

“Appalled by the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner. A night meant to celebrate the First Amendment was disrupted by political violence, which has no place in America. Grateful to the Secret Service and law enforcement who acted quickly and bravely to save lives,” said Sen. Hickenlooper on X.

Rep. Jason Crow

On X, Rep. Crow provided the following statement:

“Grateful that everyone attending the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is safe.

“Thank you to the Secret Service and law enforcement for quickly responding to shots fired at the event.

“Violence is never acceptable.”

Senator Michael Bennet

Sen. Bennet posted to X the following:

“A time-honored event dedicated to the First Amendment and a free press was disrupted by violence that has no place in our country.

“Grateful that those in attendance are safe, and thankful to the Secret Service and law enforcement who acted swiftly to protect lives.”

Rep. Diana DeGette

“The reported shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is deeply disturbing. Violence is never acceptable,” said Rep. DeGette on X.

Rep. Jeff Crank

Rep. Crank provided the following statement on X:

“Thankful for the swift action from Secret Service and law enforcement at this evening’s WHCD to ensure President Trump and all attendees are safe.

“Pray for our country. There is no place for violence.”

Rep. Gabe Evans

On X, Rep. Evans said the following:

“My family and I are keeping everyone affected by tonight’s shooting in our thoughts and prayers.

“We are so grateful for the brave men and women in law enforcement who acted swiftly to ensure everyone was kept safe.

“There is no place for violence in our country.”

Gov. Jared Polis

“While details are still emerging, violence, even the attempt and I’m glad the President, Vice President and all in attendance are safe. I appreciate the law enforcement who responded quickly to ensure everyone’s safety. We all have the right to disagree, but never to try and hurt each other,” said Gov. Polis on X.

Rep. Lauren Boebert

Rep. Boebert said the following on X:

“Thank God President Trump is safe.

“The United States Secret Service hasn’t been funded for 70 days because of the Radical Left.

“Either this is their plan OR they need to change course and fund DHS/USSS NOW.”

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser

“Political violence has no place in our democratic republic. And those who engage in such actions must be held accountable. Thinking about those at the WH Correspondents’ Dinner tonight and their safety and praying for healing our republic,” said AG Weiser on X.

Developing details

The shooting suspect was later identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press.

In a White House press briefing later on Saturday night, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the suspect is being charged preliminarily with two charges related to using a firearm and assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, but that there will be many more charges filed “based on the information that we are learning in this very fluid situation.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the investigation is ongoing.

The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was scrapped, but White House officials said it will be rescheduled.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A former Colorado funeral home owner who helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday in a case that forced the state to clamp down on an industry plagued by repeated scandal and notoriously lax oversight.

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Carie Hallford faced between 25 and 35 years in prison under a plea agreement. Some family members of those whose bodies were left to rot had urged Judge Eric Bentley to impose the maximum sentence. But the judge said Carie Hallford made credible claims of being a victim of domestic violence and her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, was the driving force in their relationship.

Bentley added that 30 years was a “staggeringly huge sentence” and appropriate for her crimes.

Jon Hallford was sentenced to 40 years on corpse abuse charges at a February hearing in which he was called a “monster” by relatives of the victims.

Carie Hallford was the public face of Return to Nature, dealing with bereaved customers at the couple’s funeral home in Colorado Springs. Jon Hallford performed much of the physical work, including at a second location south of Colorado Springs in Penrose.

That’s where authorities found bodies piled throughout a bug-infested building after neighbors complained about a foul odor in 2023.

One of those corpses was the mother of Tanya Wilson, who told Bentley on Friday that the family released what they thought were her ashes from a boat in Hawaii. It turned out her body was lying in toxic fluids on the floor of the Hallfords’ makeshift mortuary. Like other Return to Nature customers, the family received fake ashes instead of the cremated remains they were promised.

They had prepared her mother’s body for meeting her Korean ancestors in the afterlife, Wilson said. To preserve her dignity, they brushed her hair, applied her favorite moisturizer and dressed her in special clothes to preserve the dignity she had in life.

“Carie Hallford annihilated that dignity,” Wilson said.

Carie Hallford apologized in court Friday, saying she was raised to know right from wrong but had lost who she once was.

She fought back tears as she said her marriage had been “a convoluted web of lies, deceit and abuse.” She said she was not a monster but deserved punishment.

Discovery of corpses spurred first routine inspections

Prosecutors have alleged that the Hallfords were motivated by greed. They charged more than $1,200 per customer, and authorities said the amount they spent on luxury items would have covered the cremation costs many times over.

The case became the most egregious in a string of allegations involving Colorado funeral homes as details emerged about the their lavish spending and their pattern of defrauding customers.

Colorado had been the only state that did not regulate funeral homes before lawmakers adopted recent changes. The Hallfords’ case prompted laws mandating routine inspections and adopting a funeral director licensing system.

State inspectors acting under the new law last year found 24 decomposing bodies and multiple containers of bones behind a hidden door of a funeral home owned by the Pueblo County coroner and his brother. It was the first inspection of that Pueblo mortuary.

Before the bodies were found at Penrose, a mother and daughter who operated a funeral home in the western Colorado city of Montrose were sentenced to federal prison after being accused of selling body parts and giving clients fake ashes. In 2024, authorities in Denver arrested a financially troubled former funeral home owner who kept a body in a hearse for two years at a house where police also found the cremated remains of at least 30 people.

Carie Hallford was ‘the one who fed the monster’

Carie Hallford asked for leniency in March when she was sentenced in the federal fraud case, saying she was a victim of abuse and manipulation in her marriage.

Her attorney, Michael Stuzynski, said Friday said Carie Hallford initially believed what happened at Return to Nature was entirely her fault. He said she had a “lonely, gray and terrifying existence” and found solace in the interactions she had with the funeral home’s customers.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Rachael Powell said Jon Hallford couldn’t have carried out the crimes alone. While his actions were gruesome, Powell said, Carie Hallford was the one manipulating clients as she smiled and took their money, knowing she was lying to them.

“She solicited bodies and took the checks. She fed Jon the bodies,” Powell said.

The Associated Press left voicemail and email messages with Jon Hallford’s attorney seeking comment on the abuse allegations.

The Hallfords, who divorced following their arrest, received prison sentences in the related federal fraud case — 18 years for Carie and 20 years for Jon. They have each appealed.

Plea agreements call for the Hallfords’ state prison sentences to be served concurrently with the federal sentences.

Authorities recovered 189 sets of remains from the Penrose building and said another two bodies were improperly buried. Two of the remains have not yet been identified, but officials continue trying, Fremont County coroner Randy Keller said.