‘Whie House Correspondents’ Dinner Suspect Identified, Trump Shares Video of Man Charging Security Checkpoint
“They drew those guns so fast, they looked like Matt Dillon,” the president said of the moment Secret Service agents apprehended the suspect who attempted to sprint past them.
A California man has been identified as the suspect in the attempted shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night.
The Associated Press identified 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen as the suspect. Ahead of a press conference at the White House after shots were fired at the Washington Hilton ballroom on Saturday night, President Donald Trump shared a photo of the suspect, along with a video of him charging through a security checkpoint.
Trump said that the suspect was “armed with multiple weapons,” and he also confirmed that an officer was shot during the incident, but that he was “saved by the fact that he was wearing a obviously very good bulletproof vest.”
During a separate press briefing, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Shapiro confirmed the suspect is being charged with using a firearm and assaulting a federal officer with dangerous weapon and there will likely be “many more charges” to come.
While the incident is currently under investigation, it is believed that the suspect acted alone.
The officer is being evaluated for injuries, as is the suspect, who was not struck in the shooting incident, according to Metropolitan Police Department interim police chief Jeffery W. Carroll. The MPD shared that Allen was reportedly a guest at the Washington Hilton.
“The man has been captured,” Trump said of the suspect during his briefing with press. “They’re going to his apartment. He lives in California, and he’s a sick person, a very sick person, and we don’t want things like this to happen.
The commander-in-chief shared a photo of the shooting suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, on Truth Social, along with a video of him charging through a security checkpoint on Saturday.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed offstage and evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner after shots were fired at the Washington Hilton ballroom on Saturday night.
The rest of the dinner was postponed, with the WHCA and Trump saying it would be rescheduled within 30 days.
Speaking to members of the media in a press conference at the White House after the incident, Trump said that the suspect was “armed with multiple weapons” and charged through a security checkpoint, and a video of the incident was shared on the president’s Truth Social. He also revealed that an officer was shot, but “saved by the fact that he was wearing a very good bulletproof vest.”
“He was shot from very close distance with a very powerful gun, and the vest did the job,” Trump said. “I just spoke to the officer, and he’s doing great.”
The president commended the uick and efective response from law enforcement officials.
“The response time was really incredible, and we’re going to reschedule. We’re gonna do it again, we’re not gonna let anybody take over our society; we’re not gonna cancel things because we can’t do that,” he said. “We wanted to stay tonight. I will tell you, I fought like hell to stay, but it was protocol.”
Trump said that he had a “rough” speech ready for the dinner, but that the events of Saturday night will likely shift his remarks to be “probably very nice.”
When answering questions from reporters, Trump said that he believed the suspect acted alone. During a separate press briefing, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Shapiro confirmed the suspect is being charged with using a firearm and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon and added there will likely be “many more charges” to come.
Trump also recounted the moment as it happened, explaining that he initially thought a tray had dropped. The president said it sounded “quite far away” but recalled that the first lady was “very cognizant” that it could have been a shooting.
After roughly an hour of uncertainty about whether the dinner would continue and if Trump would return, as reporters mingled about the ballroom, Jiang announced that the rest of the event would be postponed and shared that law enforcement officials had ordered everyone to exit the premises.
Trump’s attendance at this year’s dinner was highly anticipated as it was his first appearance at the annual event as president.
Still Trump’s decision to attend was met with controversy as Dan Rather, the Society of Professional Journalists, and 350 other journalists and organizations signed a letter calling on the body to “forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
