APRIL 27, 2026
Gunman armed with multiple weapons breaches security at White House Correspondents' Dinner; one Secret Service agent shot
Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, was arrested Saturday evening after charging through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents' Dinner, where President Trump, Vice President Vance, and senior cabinet members were in attendance. A Secret Service agent was shot in his protective vest and later released from the hospital. Allen faces charges including two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
Allen, who authorities said traveled by train from Los Angeles through Chicago to Washington, D.C., had checked into the Washington Hilton one day before the event, according to Fox News. He came armed with a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol, a 12-gauge shotgun, and multiple knives, per CNN and the Washington Examiner. Investigators say he ran down ten flights of an interior stairwell to bypass security-heavy areas of the hotel before charging the magnetometer checkpoint located one floor above the ballroom, as described by the Washington Examiner. He never reached the event room itself.
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump, along with Vice President Vance and cabinet members, were evacuated from the ballroom shortly after gunshots rang out around 8:45 p.m. ET. Trump posted to Truth Social at 9:17 p.m. that a shooter had been apprehended and said he wished to return to the venue, but Secret Service declined, per CNN. He later held a news conference from the White House. In a CBS News "60 Minutes" interview aired Sunday, Trump said he "wasn't worried" there would be injuries and described briefly resisting agents' instructions, saying, "I wanted to see what was happening."
Federal law enforcement officials told Fox News that after his arrest, Allen stated he intended to target Trump administration officials and had prepared a manifesto detailing that intent. A White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity told NPR that Allen's brother notified law enforcement a few minutes before the incident about a letter Allen had written and sent to family members. Authorities also said Allen had posted anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on social media, and Federal Election Commission records cited by CNN show he donated $25 to Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign.