On Saturday during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual event held to celebrate press freedom, a gunman ran past security and exchanged fire with law enforcement officials.
The suspect was taken into custody before he entered the ballroom at the Washington Hilton where hundreds of journalists, celebrities, and politicians — including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance — were gathered. Officials said they believe he was targeting members of the Trump administration.
Here’s what we know so far about the incident, the suspected gunman, and his potential motive.
What happened at the White House Correspondents' Dinner?
Shortly before the event was planned to begin, a gunman ran through a security checkpoint, according to video released by the White House. Investigators believe he fired his weapon at least once before he was brought under control by the Secret Service, the New York Times reports.
The suspect was armed with a handgun, shotgun, and knives. Officials also said that he traveled by train from L.A. to Chicago, and from there headed to Washington, D.C., staying at the hotel before the attack.
Trump, who had attended the dinner for the first time since he’s held office, the first lady Melania Trump, and other high-ranking officials were later escorted out of the hotel.
A Secret Service officer was shot but was protected by a bulletproof vest, Trump said at a news conference.
Who is the White House Correspondents’ dinner shooting suspect?
The suspect has been identified as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, Calif. Allen graduated from Caltech, one of the most prestigious research universities in the U.S., in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Allen was registered as having no party preference, although in 2024 he donated $25 to ActBlue with the memo “Earmarked for Harris for President,” per the WSJ.
He was reportedly a teacher at C2 Education, a private tutoring and test-prep company, and last year graduated with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University Dominguez Hills.
Allen will be arraigned in federal court on Monday. He is being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault of a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro said she expected “many more charges” as the investigation continues.
What’s known about the suspect’s motive and “manifesto”?
Acting attorney general Todd Blanche said Allen appeared to be targeting members of the Trump administration, and potentially Trump himself, although he cautioned that their investigation into his motive was “quite preliminary,” the Washington Post reports.
Allen reportedly wrote a statement that he sent to relatives before the attack, per the Post. In it, he didn’t mention Trump by name but decried his policies and said he was “no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crime.”
Allen also wrote that he intended to use buckshot instead of slugs in order to “minimize casualties,” referring to himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin." The New York Post published the statement, which they referred to as a “manifesto,” in full on Sunday.
The suspect’s brother notified police in New London, Conn. about the document and the Secret Service and Montgomery County police interviewed Allen’s sister in Maryland, the Washington Post reports.
Response to the attack
In a Sunday interview with Fox News, Trump addressed the suspect and his “manifesto.”
“The guy is a sick guy,” the president said. “When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians, that’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred.” A law enforcement official told Reuters that the manifesto read, "Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes."
Trump also said that he would like to see the dinner quickly rescheduled. “We can’t let these criminals and these really bad people change the course of events in our country.”
The incident has raised new scrutiny over the president’s security. In 2024, Trump was grazed by a bullet at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and months later was nearly targeted by another gunman at his golf club in Florida.
Trump called the venue, outside which Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, “not a particularly secure building” and renewed his calls for a White House ballroom.
“What happened last night is exactly the reason that our great Military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, have been DEMANDING that a large, safe, and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUNDS OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
