President Donald Trump said a suspect “armed with multiple weapons” charged a security checkpoint before shots were fired at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday in Washington, DC.
Trump was rushed off stage, and he and his Cabinet members are all safe.
The suspect — who is in custody — will be charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on federal officer using a dangerous weapon, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said.
Authorities have identified the suspect as a 31-year-old California man, law enforcement officials told CNN.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer was outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton when he saw a gunman opening fire just a few feet away. He was among the dozens of attendees who took cover as law enforcement swarmed. A US Secret Service agent was shot in their protective gear and has been hospitalized, sources said.
Trump’s account of the incident:
“We wanted to stay tonight,” Trump told reporters at the White House after safely leaving the dinner. “I fought like hell to stay.”
Trump said he thought it was a tray that clattered on the ground when the suspect charged the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, adding that he and first lady Melania Trump were “whisked away” without much time to think. Trump said he and his team were not aware of any threats ahead of tonight’s event.
Trump, when asked whether he’s concerned about political violence against him, said while he is concerned, he cannot be too worried because being president is “a dangerous profession.”
Trump said the shooting at the outset of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner “unified us.”
Trump said the rescheduled event will be “safer.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani spoke out against the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night, saying “political violence is absolutely unacceptable.”
“I am glad the President and guests at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner are safe,” Mamdani wrote in an X post.
Also Read: Trump probes mysterious deaths, missing U.S. scientists
The New York mayor has met several times with President
Donald Trump, including at the White House earlier this year shortly after Mamdani took office.
While Secret Service officers quickly eliminated the threat posed by the suspect at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe said it’s concerning that the gunman got “pretty far beyond the perimeter” established by security.
“Despite the great result, they’d probably do well to ask themselves some questions about how they should think about this in the future,” McCabe told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.
The suspect, believed to have been a guest at the hotel, charged a security checkpoint outside the dinner and is believed to have fired a shot before he was taken into custody, police said.
McCabe added that under no circumstances should the dinner have continued, as some initially suggested.
“There is no chance. There are no circumstances under which you could advise the host of that event or the president and his team, anything other than to send everyone home. We have to freeze this place. This is a crime scene. Now we have to collect evidence.”
The man suspected of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday night worked as a teacher and video game developer from Southern California, according to public records.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, has been identified by law enforcement as the armed man subdued near the dinner where President Trump and other officials had gathered, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
A LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo described him as a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a test prep and tutoring company. C2 named Allen the company’s “teacher of the month” in December 2024, according to social media posts from the company. No one answered a phone number for C2 late Saturday evening.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and received a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills last year.
Allen donated $25 to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in October 2024, according to Federal Election Commission records.
It’s just after midnight in Washington DC, only hours since President Donald Trump was rushed off the stage after a shooting incident at the White House Correspondent’s dinner.
Trump and his Cabinet members who attended were all safe. He spoke afterward at a hastily organized news conference at a White House, while the city’s mayor along with law enforcement officials also addressed the media to discuss the details of what happened.
One Secret Service agent was shot and is hospitalized. No one else was injured, according to authorities.
The armed suspect who was taken into custody has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from California, two sources told CNN.
The suspect will face two charges, according to US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Police believe the suspect fired a shot, based on “preliminary information,” Interim Chief of Police of the Metropolitan Police Department Jeffery W. Carroll said.
Police said the suspect had several weapons as he “charged” a Secret Service checkpoint.
He is believed to have been a guest at the Washington Hilton — the location of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The suspect’s target is “probably part of the investigation,” law enforcement said.
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said authorities have “no reason to believe at this time that anyone else was involved.”
The suspected gunman is receiving treatment at a local hospital, Bowser said.
Trump said he spoke with the US Secret Service agent who was shot at a “very close distance” with a “very powerful gun.” He said that the agent is in “great shape” due to the protections of his bulletproof vest.
FBI Director Kash Patel urged members of the public to share “any information whatsoever related to this event.” The FBI is examining ballistics and a long gun from the scene and interviewing witnesses, Patel said.
CNN
