One law enforcement officer fired five rounds, some of the bullets hitting the hotel walls, none of them hitting Allen, law enforcement sources told CBS News. Surveillance video shows an officer in black clothing and a vest with “Police” on it raising his firearm and aiming at Allen. Allen was not hit by any shots, officials say.
Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, lies on the floor after being detained by law enforcement personnel at the Washington Hilton on April 25, 2026.
It remains unclear if the bullet from Allen’s shotgun was recovered from the scene. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters Monday that the shell casing from that shot stayed inside the shotgun.
Prosecutors are seeking pretrial detention and have charged Allen with attempted assassination of the president, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Allen is also charged with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and transporting firearms across state lines intending to commit a felony.
“Had the defendant achieved his intended outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history,” prosecutors wrote in the memorandum. “The defendant traveled across the country with the explicit aim to kill the President of the United States.”
They allege that Allen, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 caliber pistol, two knives, four daggers and enough ammunition to take dozens of lives, was apprehended by Secret Service officers “mere feet away from the ballroom where his primary target was located, along with other members of the Cabinet.”
