The Brief

As the latest wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at U.S. colleges stretches into a third week, some campuses are seeing rising tensions while others have gone relatively quiet.

Administrations at several schools have reached agreements with student protesters, pledging to take certain steps in exchange for the dismantling of protesters' encampments as graduation approaches.

Protesters' demands vary by school, though they generally call for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, disclosures of institutional investments and divestment from companies with ties to Israel or that otherwise profit from its military operation in Gaza.

Northwestern and Brown were the first schools to announce agreements last week, followed quickly by others including Rutgers, Johns Hopkins, the University of Minnesota and the University of California, Riverside.

Some administrations, like those at Columbia University and UCLA, ultimately called in police to forcibly take down student encampments. But others managed to clear their lawns of tents without police intervention — through negotiations with student organizers.

"We thought the best way to sustainably deescalate the situation was to actually talk with our students," Northwestern President Michael Schill told WBUR's Here and Now. "We have a good sustainable agreement which provides a number of things that the students wanted and that we wanted to do."

Northwestern's agreement, for instance, permits peaceful demonstrations — though no tents — through the end of classes on June 1, gives students representation on an investment committee and pledges to bring Palestinian students to campus, among other commitments.

None of the schools outright committed to divest from Israel. But they say they will provide more transparency around their endowments and limit disciplinary action against students, among other commitments. Several also pledged scholarships or aid for Palestinian students and improved space for Muslim students on campus.

Not all activists are satisfied with the terms of their deals, but many are celebrating the agreements as incremental steps in a long-running fight for divestment that, at many schools, far predates Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel's ensuing response.

"When it comes to the actual momentum that this agreement gives us, I cannot emphasize enough how huge it is," said Lucas, a Northwestern student who asked to only use his first name because of concerns about online harassment.

Some leaders at other schools are now looking to these as an example.

That's the case at Wesleyan University, where President Michael Roth — who previously said the school's encampment could continue as long as it remained peaceful — warned Thursday that vandalism and reports of harassment could result in legal and disciplinary consequences.

"We do not want to move in this direction unless necessary and much prefer to talk with protesters about things we can do as an institution to address the war in Gaza," Roth wrote. "Recent agreements at Brown University and Northwestern University might show the way."

Here's a look at how four schools made it to the bargaining table, and what they're promising protesters next.

Northwestern

Tents, flags and other supplies remain at Deering Meadow on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Ill., on April 30, a day after the university and protest organizers reached an agreement.

(

Melissa Perez Winder

/

AP

)

Northwestern's tent encampment lasted for five days before the school reached an agreement with students.

Protesters set up an encampment on Deering Meadow on Northwestern's Evanston, Ill., campus on April 25, to show support for Palestinians and urge the university to disclose — and cut — its financial ties to Israeli companies they say are complicit in the war in Gaza.

The protest drew a large police presence over several days, but attempts by university police to break up the encampment and arrest participants were unsuccessful, in part because faculty members physically blocked their path.

As the protest grew and a sizable pro-Israel counterprotest formed, university leadership engaged in conversations with what they described as a "group of students and faculty who represent the majority of the protestors on Deering Meadow."

On April 29, they announced that they had reached an agreement.

"This agreement was forged by the hard work of students and faculty working closely with members of the administration to help ensure that the violence and escalation we have seen elsewhere does not happen here at Northwestern," university leaders wrote in a note to the community.

The agreement permits peaceful demonstrations on Deering Meadow through June 1, limited to Northwestern community members and no sound amplification devices or tents except for one aid tent. The university also pledged to reestablish its Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility this fall, with representation from students, faculty and staff.

It will also fund the cost of attendance for five Palestinian undergraduates (and fundraise for more), provide "immediate temporary space for MENA/Muslim students" and engage students in a process to ensure additional support for Jewish and Muslim community members.

Some Jewish groups have taken issue with the terms of the agreement, which they say leaves Jewish students feeling unsafe. Northwestern is now facing two lawsuits, one from students and one from an outside anti-affirmative affirmative action group.

Seven members of the President's Advisory Committee on Preventing Antisemitism and Hate stepped down after the agreement was announced, citing Schill's decision not to consult it during negotiations.

A coalition of outside groups issued a statement calling for Schill's resignation in response to the "reprehensible and dangerous agreement." Separately, the American Jewish Committee accused Northwestern of "succumbing to the demands of a mob which has intimidated Jewish students, espoused antisemitic, hate-filled speech, and whose members have celebrated Hamas terrorists."

Schill, who is Jewish, defended the agreement in an April 30 video in which he acknowledged and condemned incidents of antisemitism at the encampment, including a poster showing him with devil horns, an antisemitic trope. And he told Here & Now that the ban on tents and megaphones aims to make Jewish students feel more safe on campus.

"I do take issue with calling our students a mob," he added. "They're students, they're young, they're sometimes naïve, they're learning — and so the best way for us to engage and achieve our educational mission is for us to engage in dialogue with them."

Several student groups involved in the protest have issued statements of support for the agreement and pledged to keep fighting for a ceasefire and divestment.

In fact, some have already followed up on one promise of the agreement: They've emailed Northwestern requesting more information about its investments in companies with ties to Israel, and are expecting a response within 30 days.

Brown University

Protesters at Brown University took down their encampment after a deal was reached on April 30, setting up a divestment vote in the fall.

(

David Goldman

/

AP

)

Brown University President Christina Paxson announced an agreement between the administration and student protesters on April 30, six days after they began their encampment on its Providence, R.I., campus.

"Students agreed to end the encampment and refrain from further actions that would violate Brown's conduct code through the end of the academic year, which includes Commencement and Reunion Weekend," she said.

No protesters were arrested as part of that demonstration, though dozens of students had been arrested in pro-Palestinian, pro-divestment actions earlier this year, including an eight-day hunger strike in February.

Students with the Brown Divest Coalition had two central demands for the university, Isabella Garo told All Things Considered. She was one of the six students involved in negotiations with two administrators.

The first was to present a long-tabled 2020 advisory committee report — recommending divestment from Israeli occupation — to the university corporation for a vote. The second was to drop charges against the 41 students arrested at a December sit-in.

Per the agreement, students cleared out of their encampment by 5 p.m. that day. In exchange, the Corporation of Brown University will invite five students to speak with a group of five of its members — including the chair of the investment committee — about the 2020 report during its May meeting.

It will not add divestment to its May agenda. But separately, Paxson will request an advisory committee provide her with advice on divestment by Sept. 30 and put it on the agenda for the corporation's October meeting.

"I feel strongly that a vote in October, either for or against divestment, will bring clarity to an issue that is of long-standing interest to many members of our community," Paxson said in the announcement.

The agreement also stipulates that students involved in the encampments must go through the university's conduct proceedings, but guarantees that no student will be suspended or expelled for their participation.

Garo said campus responses to the agreement vary.

"Some people are just relieved that there's finally movement in this campaign," she said. "Some people never liked the protests in the first place and are simply relieved the encampment is gone. There's also some people who have expressed some disappointment — they wanted to see divestment outright."

The next step for student activists, she said, is mobilizing in the lead-up to the October corporation. She doesn't know yet what that will look like — and, as a graduating senior, won't be on campus in the fall to help.

"But I'm confident in the ability of my fellow activists to do the work and to do it right," she said.

Rutgers

Rutgers University students occupy tents and hold rallies outside Murray Hall in New Brunswick, N.J., as part of their protest in support of Palestinians affected by the war in Gaza on April 30.

(

Chris Pedota, NorthJersey.com

/

USA TODAY Network via Reuters

)

Students and administrators at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J., came to an agreement on May 2.

After a rally that morning forced the school to postpone more than two dozen final exams, it gave protesters a 4 p.m. deadline to take down their encampment — which they set up on April 29 — or else be arrested.

NJ Spotlight News reported that some students prepared to be arrested, setting up a jail support system and readying their phone cameras.

But within an hour of the deadline, the administration offered up a revised proposal — and student organizers accepted it. They began clearing their tents just in time.

Announcing the deal later that day, university officials credited "constructive dialogue between the protesting students and our leadership teams," saying it opened the door for ongoing dialogue to address the needs of its sizable Arab, Muslim and Palestinian student body.

A coalition of student groups advocating for divestment from Israel presented 10 demands to the administration. The school agreed to eight of them but declined to divest from companies doing business in Israel and terminate its partnership with Tel Aviv University.

"Such decisions fall outside of our administrative scope," wrote Chancellor Francine Conway. "However, following our established university policies, the divestment request is under review."

Rutgers did agree to accept 10 displaced Palestinian students on scholarship, develop a plan for an Arab Cultural Center on campus, explore scholarly exchanges with a university in Ramallah and consider creating a Department of Middle East Studies, to name a few.

The agreement doesn't have unequivocal support: The New Jersey regional director of the American Jewish Committee condemned it as "short-sighted" and a "capitulation."

But the Endowment Justice Collective said in an Instagram statement that it was proud of what it had achieved — without student arrests or suspensions — and determined to keep working towards its divestment goals.

"Our decision to end our encampment without achieving these demands reflects our strategic logic regarding building power on campus by laying structural groundwork to not only grow our ranks but shift the political climate across Rutgers," they wrote.

University of Minnesota

Protesters at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus reached an agreement with the administration on Thursday, capping off a tumultuous few weeks.

Police cleared an antiwar encampment on the day it was set up on April 23, arresting nine people in the process. Students continued to protest, including reestablishing an encampment on April 29 as they called on the school to divest from weapons manufacturers and companies tied to the Israeli military, and to end study abroad programs in Israel.

University officials announced that day that some campus buildings would remain closed amidst protests. A dozen buildings remained closed the following day, as university officials offered to meet with leaders of student groups involved in the protests, MPR News reported.

Organizers met with administrators on Wednesday, the last day before final exams started, and described the conversations as productive. Before the night ended, they had reached an agreement.

Interim President Jeff Ettinger announced the takeaways from the agreement the following day: Campus buildings would reopen at noon, student organizers would not disrupt finals and commencements, and representatives would get an opportunity to address the Board of Regents at its May 10 meeting.

In the agreement, the university provided progress reports on six requests from student protesters, ranging from divestment to amnesty.

Among them: The administration said it would consider setting up program affiliations with Palestinian universities and make a good faith effort to provide information about the university's holding in public companies by May 7, to be supplemented by May 17.

Ettinger credited the meetings with organizers as a "very positive first step in reaching mutual understanding."

He said their original meeting was scheduled for 30 minutes — but the participants "engaged in constructive conversation" for more than 90 minutes, and then met two more times to discuss the proposed agreements.

"We regret that these meetings did not happen sooner, and have committed to regular meetings moving forward to continue to discuss this coalition's concerns," he added.

He said while he is heartened by the initial progress, there is more work to be done. Organizers with the UMN Divest Coalition made a similar vow on Instagram after the agreement was announced.

"We will continue fighting for all 6 of our demands until they are met and continue with full transparency of every step that is taken," they said.

According to new data from TikTok and theater trade group Cinema United fan-made TikToks can now do what big marketing campaigns couldn't always achieve: keep a movie thriving after opening weekend.

At this year's CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theater owners, director Denis Villeneuve showed the first seven minutes of his third Dune film. He told the crowd he made his latest installment of the science fiction saga for the fans. And long before the December opening, fans have been posting their own reactions on TikTok.

"There's this incredible chant in Dune 3 that's in the trailer and what we've seen is it's a soundbite that users on TikTok have embraced and made their own content with," says Cameron Curtis, executive vice president of global digital marketing for Warner Bros.

He says TikTok is a tremendous platform for reaching new audiences.

"We often see that the creator content on [the] platform outperforms our traditional advertising content by 3-to-1. It's become just critical to our strategy and everything that we do," says Curtis.

He says Warner Bros. and other studios have been partnering with TikTok creators to market their films. According to TikTok executives, that's for good reason. "We really saw that the buzz doesn't stop with the opening weekend," says Dennis Papirowski, TikTok's global head of Entertainment and News.

He says every day, the platform's users create 6.5 million posts related to content from new and classic films and TV shows. According to TikTok, half of their users say they discovered a new movie through the platform. And of those, more than a third looked up showtimes and purchased a movie ticket.

Dawn Yang, the company's global head of entertainment partnerships and business development, says studios tend to do a lot of marketing for the first weekend a film opens.

"But on TikTok, it really takes off after the first weekend," she says, "because people have seen the entire movie and they want to talk about it."

TikTokers post enthusiastic movie reviews, they cosplay and reenact scenes, and some create new edits from the official trailers and footage. For instance, 24-year-old college student Josiah Pilet remixed Spider-Man clips set to music.

Fan edits would have been no-nos in the old Hollywood strategy of protecting intellectual property, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, which analyzes the box office.

"There was a time when studios did not want marketing messaging going out that wasn't from them," he says. Now, he says even negative responses to movies are welcome "as long as it's not something horrible, that can boost the profile of a movie and excitement around it, because sometimes people want to see what the fuss is all about."

Dergarabedian says studios are increasingly embracing and harnessing the power of short TikToks made by the key Gen Z audience.

"You have some movies that open huge, have a huge opening weekend, then drop by 70% or more in their second weekend," he says. "But the way you keep people coming back is that you not only have a great movie, but the social media engagement continues, amplifies and creates that excitement and the FOMO factor among potential moviegoers."

Take last year's box office hit Sinners. Cinema United and TikTok's report found that buzz about the film surged on the platform during its opening week — and ticket sales barely dipped the following week.

But social media platforms, including TikTok, have also sometimes caused minor headaches for theaters. Last year, fan-made posts chronicled the mayhem sparked by a line spoken by Jack Black's character in The Minecraft Movie.

Audiences shouted "chicken jockey" along with him and tossed popcorn in theaters. The ruckus was so chaotic that one fan even carried a live chicken into the movie, as shown by one viral video.

At CinemaCon, Warner Bros. executives offered a good-natured apology to theater owners for the mess.

But it's not just fans posting TikToks. As executive director of communications and content for B&B Theatres, Paul Farnsworth makes funny TikToks, starring himself and the staff — often in the lobby, playing around with the latest movies.

"It's like a little wink-wink joke, nothing that you're going to like, pay money to go see a stand-up comedian say," he says. "But I think for us, it indicates to our guests a sensibility of like the playfulness of the movies, the magic of the experience, the shared communal thing that we're all trying to achieve with them."

Farnsworth says he asks the studios for guidance on the material — hoping his viral TikToks get people into movie theaters.

The man arrested in connection with the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner Saturday night was identified as Cole Allen by two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke to NPR on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Shooting details

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., third from left, is taken out of the ballroom by security agents during a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

(

Andrew Harnik

/

Getty Images

)

The shooting took place outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was underway. President Donald Trump on Saturday released what appears to be video surveillance footage that shows a man quickly moving past security officials, who then draw their weapons. Trump, who was safely evacuated with his wife, Melania, and other top officials, also shared images via his Truth Social account late Saturday of a shirtless man detained on the floor of the hotel.

Todd Blanche, the acting U.S. Attorney General, told Meet the Press on Sunday morning that they believed the gunman was targeting "administration officials," but didn't want to be more specific since the investigation was still underway. He said the targets "likely" included the president.

He also said investigators believed the gunman had traveled to D.C. from California via train and was staying at the hotel with two firearms. Blanche said the man purchased those firearms within the last couple of years.

At a news conference following the shooting, Jeffery Carroll of D.C.'s Metropolitan Police said that the suspect said the suspect "was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives."

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said at that same news briefing that the gunman would face federal charges. Authorities say the man will be charged Monday.

What we know about the gunman's SoCal ties

FBI personnel confer with Torrance police officers on the street of the house connected to Cole Tomas Allen, the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents' Dinner late Saturday.

(

Robbin Goddard

/

Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

)

The FBI searched a home connected to Allen in Torrance late Saturday.

According to a LinkedIn profile under his name, Allen obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2017, and a master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025.

The profile also says that one of his employers is C2 Education, a tutoring and college test prep center with a location in Torrance, where he was named "Teacher of the Month" in a December 2024 post.

A search of California's Commission on Teacher Credentialing did not surface a credentialed teacher by that name.

“We were shocked to hear the news of the horrifying incident that transpired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer," C2 Education said in an email response to LAist seeking comments.

Statements from local schools

As news reports spread identifying the gunman as a California teacher from Torrance, the Torrance Unified School District said in a statement Saturday night that the alleged gunman is not an employee of the school district and has never worked there.

"While details are still emerging and facts remain under investigation, early reports have referenced a teacher from Torrance as being involved," the statement from Torrance Unified said. "We want to clarify that the individual named in the news is not an employee of the Torrance Unified School District and has never worked in our district."

Cal State Dominguez Hills, in a statement, said a man with the name of the alleged gunman had graduated from the school in 2025, but could not confirm if it was the same person.

"A student named Cole Allen graduated with a master’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. The university cannot confirm if this is the same suspect identified in the April 25 shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner," the statement said.

Caltech also said it had not independently confirmed the alleged gunman was the same person who attended their university.

"An undergraduate student by the name of Cole Allen graduated from Caltech in 2017," university officials said in a statement. "Based on media reports, we are aware that federal authorities have identified a suspect by the name of Cole Allen in the April 25 shooting incident at the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner. We do not have details from the investigation to confirm that the suspect and our undergraduate alumnus are the same person."

The math club at Bella Vista Elementary School is not a quiet affair — not with more than a dozen 10- and 11-year-olds stacking sets of mahjong.

But before the games can begin, it's time for math lessons.

"Remind me, math is the study of what?" fourth grade teacher Andy Luong asks the class.

Buena Vista elementary school teacher Andy Luong goes over different elements of mahjong with the afterschool math club.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

Some of the 16 students that make up the mahjong math club at Bella Vista Elementary, with club co-founder Rachel Hwang.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

"Pattern, patterns," the kids say.

Luong clicks through several slides, each featuring a mahjong tile the students call "seven sticks."

 "When you first learned this tile, what did you use to memorize this?" Luong, co-founder of the Mahjong Math Club, asks.

"They look like sticks," a boy says.

Luong locks in on a slide for a few seconds, just a flash. It features six tiles, divided into two rows. He asks the class how many tiles they see.

 "Three on the top and three on the bottom," a girl says. " So when I saw the pattern, I was like, 'Oh, it's six.'"

Luong nods. " Recognizing those patterns are a lot faster than counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6," he says.

The game that never goes out of style

The tile game of mahjong is believed to have started in China in the 19th century, after decades if not centuries of evolution. It spread globally, adopting regional specificities, including in the U.S. after it landed in the late 1910s from Shanghai by way of an American businessman. A few decades later, a group of Jewish American women established the National Mah Jongg League in New York.

The game never stopped being a staple of Chinese and many Asian cultures — anywhere in the world.

Intergenerational Mahjong is a monthly series held in Monterey Park, one of many new mahjong social clubs in L.A.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

In recent years, fueled in part by the COVID-19 shutdown, an interest in the game has sparked among young Asian Americans. They form or attend social clubs in L.A. dedicated to the pastime, creating their own bond with the game.

Luong is one of them. When he was growing up in Illinois, the game came with certain connotations.

" Mahjong has such a bad rap in the Asian American community," Luong said, who moved to the San Gabriel Valley about a decade ago. "Part of a big reason why my parents don't play is because they associate it with gambling."

The 30-year-old finally gave the game a spin in 2024, learning it from third grade teacher and math club co-founder Rachel Hwang. She cut her teeth by watching her family play. Naturally, she threw Luong in the deep end.

" I was like, 'Here, we're just gonna play,'" Hwang said. " I just put the tiles on."

"I was so overwhelmed. It's like, 'What do you mean I had to get a set? A set of how much?' I'm like, 'I don't know what I'm doing,'" he said.

Still, Luong fell head over heels, quickly becoming a regular at the mahjong social clubs (in fact, it was at one of those events where I first met him) and a student of the game.

In learning it, Luong figured out how to teach it.

Principal Jennifer Martinez of Bella Vista Elementary in Monterey Park

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

"He was the one [that] as a learner didn't grow up playing this game," Hwang said. "He was the one that found the tutorials, watched the tutorials, and he really, from a learner's perspective, figured out what a kid needed to learn and how they needed to learn in order to play the game."

Last year, Luong submitted a proposal to start a math club focused on mahjong at the school.

" It was pretty much slam dunk. It explores other avenues of the cultural experience that we want our students to learn," said Jennifer Martinez,  principal of Bella Vista Elementary School.  "It was something that we wanted to get off the ground right away and support."

Since September, the club has been meeting on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It was so popular Luong and Hwang brought in help to run the club.

“ I don't feel like they're really doing math,” said Ruolin Chen, a kindergarten teacher who was recruited. "It's like they're learning from playing or playing from learning.”

Let the games begin

Fifth graders Emily Le and Brianna Azpeitia at the mahjong math club.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

Fifth grader Liam Torres.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

Back in the classroom, Luong clicks to a last slide to remind the club how to maximize "points" with certain "hands." This semester, the club is playing Hong Kong style mahjong — three point minimum win.

Finally, it's game time. The group of mainly fourth and fifth graders take their seats at the tables: mixing the tiles, stacking them into starting formation, casting the die, so on and so forth.

Then, they build their hand, meticulously rearranging the 13 tiles according to their suits — or in math club parlance, patterns.

The clank of tiles and sounds of "pong" and "gong" soon fill the air.

Pattern recognition, strategy, situational awareness, probability, learning when to pivot or to fold — those are some of the learnings the math club intends.

"Andy is so structured," Hwang said of Luong's design of the club. " The first two weeks, they didn't even play a game. It was like, 'Let's look at the tiles. How many tiles do you see? Pick out and group them into sets.'"

Fifth grader Uma Alvarado.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

Fifth grader Benjamin Garcia.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

Fifth grader Uma Alvarado shows me her hand. She's going all "pong" — trying to assemble four sets of three identical tiles. It'd be worth three points if she wins.

Alvarado says what brings her to the club is the opportunity to hang out with her schoolmates. But trying something new is pretty cool too.

"I get to mix the tiles and find new ways to play a game I have never been introduced to before," she adds.

At another table, fourth grader Bonnie Kuang says the game keeps her on her toes.

Fourth grader Bonnie Kuang (left) and fifth grader Ian Maldonado.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

Fourth grader Sofia Mandic explains how the club has taught her pattern recognition.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

"I think it's fun to use different strategies, and maybe I need to change strategy mid-game," Kuang said. "And I like it when I win."

Sofia Mandic, her same grade classmate and opponent across the table, says the pace of the game makes quick tile recognition key.

"You need to think fast. You need to think to yourself if you need it or not," Mandic says, because oftentimes, there are just seconds to make a decision.

Bringing mahjong into the classroom

Pattern recognition, strategy, situational awareness, probability, learning when to pivot or to fold — those are some of the learnings the math club intends.

"Andy is so structured," Hwang said of Luong's design of the club. " The first two weeks, they didn't even play a game. It was like, 'Let's look at the tiles. How many tiles do you see? Pick out and group them into sets.'"

It's all part of a teaching method known as "counting collections" that focuses on hands-on, student-centered learning experiences to build informal math knowledge. It's one aspect of a body of research called Cognitively Guided Instruction, which all math teachers at Bella Vista are trained in. Luong is applying it to guide his approach.

A slide used in the mahjong math club to teach kids how to calculate points.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

A slide used in the mahjong math club teaching kids how to increase points with certain combinations.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

" We need to have them see there's four different types of tiles. There's [Chinese] characters, there's sticks, circles, and there's honorary tiles," Luong said. "They're not going to know unless they actually see it and they use their hands."

Even then, it's a lot to process. It could be downright overwhelming when a kid has to juggle all the elements all at once during game play.

"The very first time that we actually started playing, some of them didn't finish a game. It took an entire period," Luong said.

It took about a month into the club before the mechanics of the game — things like drawing a tile, discarding the ones they don't want — became routine; and another two months for the kids to play faster and without supervision.

Teachers Rachel Hwang, Ruolin Chen and Andy Luong. They run the Mahjong Math Club at Bella Vista Elementary in Monterey Park.

(

Fiona Ng

/

LAist

)

"A lot of the students who don't know Mandarin, or have any Chinese background, are starting to recognize the characters. I'm really proud to say that," Luong said.

Ultimately, the teachers want the kids to take away from the game a lesson about life.

"What we really want the kids to do is not to have such a fixed mindset," Luong said.

" We want them to, A) be flexible, B) change up your game plan," Hwang said. "It's OK. Life is going to throw curve balls at you."

Updated April 26, 2026 at 16:56 PM ET

Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly.

President Trump and the first lady are uninjured after a shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday in Washington, D.C. A suspect is in custody, according to a statement from the U.S. Secret Service.

In remarks from the White House after the incident, the president said a Secret Service agent is "doing great" after being shot in a bulletproof vest. The Secret Service said the incident took place at a security screening area inside the Washington Hilton hotel near the entrance to the main ballroom where the event was taking place. There are no reports of further injuries.

The suspect has been identified as Cole Allen, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Trump shared surveillance footage online which appears to show law enforcement reacting to an assailant sprinting through an area of the hotel. He also posted pictures of a man, shirtless, with his eyes closed lying face down on a carpet.

Cole is being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, with more charges likely, according to Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

At a law enforcement press conference, Jeffery Carroll of DC's Metropolitan Police said that the suspect "was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives." Law enforcement said they believe the suspect was a guest at the hotel.

He was evaluated at a local hospital after the incident and was not hit by gunfire, according to law enforcement.

Getty Images photographer Andrew Harnik takes photos as a security official points his weapon after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

(

Chip Somodevilla

/

Getty Images

)

A chaotic scene

Gunshots were heard by gathered reporters shortly after 8:30 p.m. ET. Several guests were seen fleeing the ballroom where hundreds of journalists, politicians and attendees were gathered — including Trump, Vice President Vance and other members of the administration.

Video from inside the room showed security quickly clear the guests on the main stage — including the president and first lady. Someone can be heard shouting "stay down."

President Trump took to social media shortly after being rushed out to praise the Secret Service.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taken out of the ballroom by security agents during a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

(

Andrew Harnik

/

Getty Images

)

"Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended," Trump wrote.

The president said in a later post that all cabinet members are safe.

"I said earlier tonight that journalism is a public service, because when there is an emergency, we run to the crisis, not away from it. And on a night when we are thinking about the freedoms in the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are," Weijia Jiang, the president of the correspondents' association, said. "I saw all of you reporting, and that's what we do. Thank God everybody's safe and and thank you for coming together tonight. We will do this again."

First lady Melania Trump and President Trump were sitting next to each other just before they were rushed out of the ballroom at the Washington Hilton.

(

Tom Brenner

/

AP

)

Several members of Congress were seen leaving the event by foot, including Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.

Attacks on Trump and the press

Both the president and members of the press have been targeted for violence in recent years.

During his 2024 reelection effort, Trump was injured in a shooting at a July rally in Pennsylvania when a bullet whizzed past his head, grazing his ear. Two attendees were wounded, and rally-goer and former fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed.

A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the perpetrator.

In September 2024, a Secret Service agent saw a man holding a semi-automatic rifle hidden in the tree line at Trump International in West Palm Beach. The suspect fled in his car and was arrested a short time later.

White House Correspondents Association President and CBS Senior White House Correspondent Weijia Jiang pauses while coming back to the stage to speak after a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

(

Andrew Harnik

/

Getty Images

)

He was later sentenced to life in prison.

During the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol building, more than a dozen journalists were attacked in targeted assaults by rioters, according to a tally by the Freedom of the Press foundation. "Murder the media" was etched into a doorway during the attack.

In 2018, a man mailed pipe bombs to people and organizations he perceived to be critics of Donald Trump, including CNN offices in New York and Atlanta. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The Washington Hilton, which played host to Saturday's dinner, is also the site of past political violence — in 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously wounded outside of the hotel.

Three others were also injured in the attack, including Reagan's press secretary James Brady, who sustained brain damage and was permanently disabled in the attack. He became a gun control activist, successfully lobbying alongside his wife Sarah Brady for a background check system for firearm sales.

The White House Press Briefing Room, where Trump made brief remarks after the incident, was later renamed in his honor.

Deepa Shivaram and Ryan Lucas contributed to this report.

Copyright 2026 NPR