Secret Service Agent Wounded in Correspondents' Dinner Attack, Prosecutors Say

How did a man armed with guns and knives get through the layers around one of Washington’s most closely watched political events and leave a Secret Service agent wounded? Federal prosecutors say the answer is still being built from video, travel records and a pellet recovered from a protective vest, but the picture they have outlined is stark: a planned approach, a rapid confrontation and gunfire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was arraigned April 27 on charges including attempting to assassinate the president, interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Prosecutors said Allen made a reservation at the Washington Hilton on April 6 for April 24 through April 26, then traveled by train from near Los Angeles to Chicago and onward to Washington, arriving April 24 before the attack.

The FBI said video and other evidence show Allen casing the hotel area the day before the shooting and then confronting security on April 25. Investigators also released video they say shows him engaging security at the dinner. Prosecutors said Allen fired at least once as he ran past magnetometers and fired in the direction of the officer who was struck.

Jeanine Pirro said investigators recovered a buckshot pellet from the Secret Service agent’s vest and believe it ties Allen to the shooting. The AP account said the man was armed with guns and knives, and that one Secret Service officer was hit in a bullet-resistant vest and later was recovering. The detail has sharpened the case from a chaotic security breach into a forensic question about exactly what weapon was used and how the rounds traveled through the crowded hotel entrance.

The attack landed inside a venue already steeped in security memory. The dinner was the first White House Correspondents’ Dinner Donald Trump attended as president, and the Washington Hilton carries its own grim history as the site of the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. CNBC reported that about 2,300 guests were inside the ballroom, the hotel was closed to the public beginning at 2 p.m. ET, and access was limited to guests, ticket holders, invited reception attendees and others with White House Correspondents’ Association-related credentials.

Pirro said prosecutors plan to seek a grand jury indictment on May 8, with Allen due back in court May 11. The episode now stands as more than a single act of violence: it has become a test of how Washington protects high-profile political gatherings in spaces that were already supposed to be secure.