The gunman who tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was targeting US administration officials, authorities said Sunday citing a manifesto, in the latest instance of political violence to hit Washington.

The suspect was fired at and apprehended after sprinting past a security checkpoint, prompting a chaotic scene in which President Donald Trump and several Cabinet officials were evacuated.

Attacks on political figures “pass in and out of the public imagination with increasing speed,” The Free Press wrote, a trend that feels uniquely American, several foreign news outlets noted.

Such violence “is intrinsic to the United States,” a French lawmaker said.

Trump views attacks against him “as a sign of his historic significance,” The Washington Post wrote.