Federal authorities are still searching for answers in the third attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, days after a shooter opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington.
Chaos erupted at the Washington Hilton on Saturday evening as guests reported hearing loud noises from outside the event just as it began. Videos shared to social media in the immediate aftermath showed the president and other members of his cabinet being rushed from the ballroom as Secret Service agents flooded the area with guns drawn.
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Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, Calif., was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate the president, in addition to two weapons charges, including discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
According to court documents, Allen, 31, booked a room at the hotel for three nights and traveled by train from his home in Southern California. At around 8:40 p.m., less than an hour after the event began, Allen allegedly ran through a metal detector at a security checkpoint on the hotel’s terrace level. As he did so, Secret Service agents reported hearing a loud gunshot. One agent, who was wearing a ballistic vest, was shot once in the chest.
Allen tripped before ever reaching the ballroom and fell to the ground, where he was subsequently tackled by Secret Service agents.
It has been determined that Allen fired his weapon once, but did not reload, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a Monday news conference. The two weapons Allen brought to the hotel were purchased in California in 2023 and 2025, court records stated.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Darren B. Cox, deputy assistant director of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division, conducted a news conference about Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting, on Monday. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
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Federal investigators on Tuesday were still searching for the bullet fragment that struck the agent, leaving them uncertain of whether it was Allen who fired the shot. Allen was able to access the security checkpoint through an unguarded stairwell, MS Now reported.
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The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an email allegedly sent to his family and a former employer, Allen apologized “to everyone whose trust I abused.”
“I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” states the email, which he signed as ”‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen.”
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