A 32-year-old California school teacher, Cole Tomas Allen, who graduated from Caltech and interned at a NASA lab, was apprehended by the Secret Service on Saturday after he tried to shoot his way into a media dinner with the intent to attack US President Donald Trump, who was scheduled to speak at the event.
In what was described as the third such attempt on Trump's life, Allen attempted to storm into the Washington Hilton Hotel banquet hall where the President was attending the annual White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) dinner. The gathering of media figures, social elites, and political heavyweights, including Trump's cabinet associates, had just settled in for a pre-speech dinner when several gunshots were heard outside the hall. This prompted Secret Service agents to evacuate the President, First Lady Melania Trump, and other senior administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance.
No shots were fired at the President himself or at the gathering. White House and Secret Service officials later stated that Allen, who was staying at the same hotel, tried to shoot his way past the main magnetometer screening area outside the banquet hall. However, he was tackled by security and arrested unharmed. A Secret Service agent who was shot at by Allen was saved by his bulletproof vest.
The Washington Hilton, located a few blocks from the White House, is the same hotel where John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Appearing in the White House briefing room about an hour after being evacuated, President Trump, looking composed, referenced previous attempts on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, and in Palm Beach. He stated that it was not the first time his life was in danger and urged Americans to resolve differences peacefully. When asked why he thought he was being targeted, Trump invoked Abraham Lincoln's assassination, saying that it is always the most impactful people who are targeted.
“The people that do the most… the people who make the most impact, they go after them. I hate to say I am honored by that…. I have done a lot (for the US),” he asserted. He also pivoted to the Iran situation, saying “when you do things like that you become a target.”
Rejecting the idea of giving up public appearances, Trump used the occasion to advocate for the White House ballroom he is obsessed with, stating that the hotel where the incident took place was not particularly secure and that even the military and Secret Service are demanding a secure, drone-proof ballroom. “It is a dangerous profession… nobody told me it was such a dangerous profession,” Trump joked, adding that he is there to do a job, and with the job come risks. In fact, he said he “fought like hell” to stay on and speak at the event, but he was overruled by security personnel.
In a social media post about an hour after the incident, Trump wrote: “Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we ‘LET THE SHOW GO ON’ but will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again.”
Trump’s message earned praise from many of his supporters, who portrayed the incident as a third assassination attempt on him and commended his courage in wanting to return to deliver his speech. Some supporters blamed the “radical left” for the purported assassination attempt even as initial sketchy details emerged, while chronic Trump critics questioned the official version, dubbing it "staged."
The US Secret Service said in a statement soon after the incident that it is investigating a shooting incident near the main magnetometer screening area in the hotel and that one individual is in custody. While some reports indicated that one suspect was shot in the melee, the Secret Service stated that the “condition of those involved is not yet known, and law enforcement is actively assessing the situation,” suggesting there may be others involved. Trump, however, said the incident appeared to involve a “lone wolf.”
The WHCA dinner is an annual roast and toast, which Trump has avoided since becoming President, ostensibly because he believes most of the media is hostile to him. But he made an exception this year, and instead of a well-known comedian or late-night host who typically roasts the country’s movers and shakers, he was to deliver the keynote himself, with a “mentalist” providing entertainment for the evening. However, about half an hour into the evening when dinner was about to be served, several popping sounds were heard outside the banquet hall while Trump and the first lady were seated on the dais, chatting with guests around them, including the mentalist Oz Pearlman. Secret Service agents came storming through the aisles yelling "get down, get down," while other agents swarmed around the president and the first lady and rushed them out. Security detail attached to various cabinet members also shepherded them out.
