On the evening of April 25, 2026, gunshots were fired near the main security screening area for the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. Shortly afterwards, President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and members of Trump's Cabinet were evacuated from the event by Secret Service officials. This was the first White House Correspondents' Dinner that Trump has attended as president.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, who allegedly intended to target multiple Trump administration officials. Allen was arrested near the screening area outside the banquet hall, after running past the security checkpoint while armed. Investigators believe he was staying at the hotel as a guest. One officer was struck in his bullet-resistant vest and admitted to a hospital, then later released. The suspect was taken to the hospital for a single knee injury despite not being hit by gunfire.
A manifesto that officials attributed to Allen criticized Trump administration policies, referred to himself as the "Friendly Federal Assassin", and stated that he intended to target administration officials. The manifesto did not name Trump, but stated "I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes". Allen was charged with four criminal counts, including attempting to assassinate a US president, carrying a possible sentence of life in prison if convicted. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges on May 11. The dinner was rescheduled for July 24, at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in D.C.
The incident was the third apparent attempt on Trump's life since 2024, following the July 2024 attempt near Butler, Pennsylvania, and the September 2024 attempt at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The Washington Hilton was also the site of the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Background
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) holds an annual dinner in Washington, D.C., traditionally attended by the sitting president, members of the press, and other dignitaries. The 2026 dinner, held at the Washington Hilton, was the first such event attended by Trump during his presidencies; he had declined to attend during his first term and in 2025. The 2026 dinner featured mentalist Oz Pearlman as the celebrity performer.
The event attracted approximately 2,600 attendees, including senior administration officials such as Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lee Zeldin.
Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe said that security at the event was "almost on the level of a national security event", given the concentration of senior government officials in one location. He said that a likely massive coordination between the Secret Service and partner agencies had been organized in advance. However, the highest security level was not invoked for the event. The Associated Press noted that the lobby of the Washington Hilton regularly remains open to other guests during the dinner, and that security and screening is typically located closer to the ballroom itself.
The Associated Press noted Trump's contentious relationship with journalists; before the dinner, five hundred journalists had signed a petition urging the WHCA to oppose Trump's "efforts to trample freedom of the press". For her part, WHCA president Weijia Jiang said, "I don't think people realize how closely we are working with the White House". Among the protesters outside the event, one held a sign saying, "Journalism is dead." In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan at the entrance to the same hotel.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that a discussion about the line of succession took place before the dinner but that there were several members of the Cabinet not in attendance, so no specific designated survivor was needed.
Incident
Shooting
At about 8:00 p.m. EDT, the suspect took a photo of himself standing in front of the mirror in his hotel room that he had reportedly had booked at the venue, dressed in black with a red neck tie. He reportedly also wore a small leather bag, a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife, pliers and wire cutters, before taking an unguarded back stairwell down from his room, which was 10 floors above the ballroom. At 8:30 p.m., the suspect sent his manifesto, a text file titled "Apology and Explanation", to family members via email. At least two of the family members, upon reading the manifesto, immediately called the police.
At 8:36 p.m., while dinner was being served inside the main ballroom, the suspect ran past a security checkpoint and authorities believe he fired at least one shot at a Secret Service agent. Investigators alleged that the suspect was running at at least nine miles per hour before he was apprehended, after he tripped and fell to the ground after hitting his knee on a magnetometer box. Several US Secret Service agents yelled "shots fired" inside the venue, according to pool reports.
CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, who was outside the main ballroom at the time, reported being only a few feet away from the gunman when the shots were fired. Blitzer described the shooter as firing what appeared to be "a very serious weapon" at least six times before being tackled and taken to the ground by police. Blitzer was ushered to safety in a nearby restroom by officers. It was later stated by investigators that the suspect had fired one shot with his shotgun and five rounds were fired by the Secret Service officer who had been struck in his bulletproof vest.
The Secret Service stopped the suspect from entering the ballroom and he was taken into custody at the scene, after being stripped of his shirt to determine if the suspect had any explosives on him. One law enforcement officer was struck in his bullet-resistant vest and was admitted to a hospital but was later released. The New York Times reported evidence suggesting that the suspect did not fire that round. Prosecutors later disputed this, stating that the suspect shot the officer. The gunman sustained a single knee injury from the tackle, for which he was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Evacuation
Trump, who had been seated at the head table on the stage as Oz Pearlman performed for him, his wife, and Karoline Leavitt, was surrounded by Secret Service agents about ten seconds after the shots were fired. Once armed guards in tactical gear with rifles appeared on the dais and some other attendees, including Vance, had been evacuated, Trump was escorted off the stage, briefly falling in the process. Many of the roughly 2,600 attendees took cover under their tables.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino unsuccessfully attempted to start a "U-S-A!" chant as Trump was escorted out and others began filming inside the ballroom. First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Vance, White House press secretary Leavitt, and other cabinet members were also evacuated from the ballroom and moved to secure holding areas within the hotel. Several members of Congress were seen departing the event on foot, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL).
Trump remained inside the hotel in a secure area while officials assessed the situation. He departed the Washington Hilton for the White House at approximately 9:45 p.m. EDT after law enforcement requested that all attendees leave the venue. Among the attendees, Charlie Kirk's widow, Erika, was escorted away in tears.
Accused
A suspect was arrested near the screening area outside of the banquet hall. The United States Secret Service confirmed the incident in a statement, saying it was investigating a shooting incident near the main magnetometer screening area in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Department. The suspect was carrying a Maverick 12-gauge shotgun, an Armscor Precision .38 semiautomatic pistol, a Ka-Bar knife and three Smith & Wesson boot knives. Interim Washington, D.C., police chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was taken to the hospital for a single knee injury despite not being hit by gunfire and that investigators believe he was staying at the hotel as a guest.
Before the FBI had named the suspect, two law enforcement officials spoke to news agencies, and named him as Cole Tomas Allen (born April 11, 1995), an academic tutor, video game developer, and mechanical engineer from Torrance, California (a suburb of Los Angeles). Trump posted images on Truth Social of Allen after his arrest, lying face down on the ground shirtless, with his hands cuffed behind his back, and surrounded by Secret Service agents.
Allen was homeschooled throughout high school, however he played volleyball at Pacific Lutheran High School via a special program his junior year. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He obtained a Master of Science degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in May 2025. According to law enforcement, Allen worked for C2 Education, a tutoring firm in Torrance and received a "Teacher of the Month" award from the company in December 2024. Wired reported that Allen has been employed part-time at C2 Education since March 2020. According to Federal Election Commission records, Allen donated $25 to a Democratic Party PAC, ActBlue, for Kamala Harris's presidential campaign in October 2024. Allen had lived in the Greater Los Angeles area since 2010. Prior to the shooting, Allen lived with his parents, along with his two sisters and one brother.
Family members were interviewed by investigators and Secret Service agents said that Allen "made radical statements and that he constantly referenced a plan to do 'something' to fix the issues with today's world", that he was part of a Connecticut-based group called "The Wide Awakes" based in Hartford, attended No Kings protests in California, and would regularly go to a shooting range to train with firearms. Allen's sister told Secret Service agents and the Montgomery County Police Department that Allen had purchased two handguns and a shotgun, which he stored at their parents' home without their knowledge.
In New London, Connecticut, Allen's brother notified the police department about the alleged manifesto that he sent to his family members. New London police chief Brian Wright released a statement the following afternoon, confirming that the "individual wanted to share information they believed to be pertinent to the matter". The official characterized the writing as displaying anti-Trump sentiment and describes his targets as administration officials, and not guests or hotel employees. According to the official, Allen apologized to family and friends in his writing, and said that he does not expect forgiveness. New London police immediately turned their case over to federal law enforcement afterward.
After the incident, FBI agents and the Torrance Police Department swarmed through Allen's house, using tactical gear and armored vehicles. Acting US attorney general Todd Blanche said that Allen boarded Amtrak on April 21 and took two of their routes, the Southwest Chief from Los Angeles to Chicago and the Floridian from Chicago to D.C., before checking in as a guest at the hotel on April 24.
A manifesto, purported to be the suspect's, read in part:
I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes... Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor's crimes.
The manifesto does not name Trump, but lists among its grievances the federal government's strikes on what it claimed were drug boats in the Pacific early in 2026. It expressed the author's astonishment regarding the seeming lack of security at the hotel: "What the hell is the Secret Service doing?… No damn security. Not in transport. Not in the hotel. Not in the event." CBS News noted that because the Washington Hilton was a "functioning hotel with numerous public spaces during the dinner", only the areas where the dinner took place were secured by the Secret Service.
Legal proceedings
On April 27, the US Department of Justice held a news conference to announce that Allen was being charged with the attempted assassination of Trump, transportation of a firearm and ammunition through interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence. He faces life in prison if convicted. In a court filing April 29, the Department of Justice provided new information and photos, including a list of his possessions at the time of his arrest and items recovered from his parents' home in Los Angeles.
Allen briefly appeared in federal court on April 27 for an initial hearing, flanked by US Marshals. Appearing before federal judge Zia Faruqui on May 4, Allen alleged he had been put in five-point restraints, which prompted Faruqui to remark that Allen was being treated worse than the January 6 partisans. On May 5, Allen was indicted on four charges, which included attempting to assassinate the president. On May 11, he appeared before federal judge Trevor McFadden in Washington, D.C. and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. The next court hearing occurred on June 29, where Department of Justice attorneys and Allen's defense team discussed a potential plea agreement.