A California man has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump after storming a security checkpoint at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington and opening fire.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was arraigned Monday in US District Court on three charges: attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition across state lines with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence.
Allen, a trained engineer who earned a mechanical engineering degree from the California Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills, had no prior criminal record.
According to court documents, Allen booked a room at the Washington Hilton hotel on April 6, nearly three weeks before the dinner. He travelled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, then onwards to Washington, arriving on April 24 and checking into the hotel that afternoon.
Hotel surveillance footage showed Allen leaving his 10th-floor room dressed in black and carrying a shotgun, a handgun and several knives in a black bag. He used an interior stairwell to bypass heavily monitored areas of the hotel before exiting onto the level leading to the dinner’s security checkpoint.
At approximately 8:40pm, Allen ran through a security magnetometer holding a long gun. A Secret Service officer assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gunshot. The officer, who was wearing a ballistic vest, was struck once in the chest. He drew his service weapon and fired multiple times at Allen, who fell to the ground and suffered minor injuries but was not shot.
Shortly before the attack, Allen sent an email to family members and a former employer signing off as “Cole ‘coldForce’ Friendly Federal Assassin Allen,” outlining what he was about to do. In the note, Allen wrote that administration officials were “targets, prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest” and stated he “experienced rage” over the actions of the current administration. He also wrote about the type of ammunition he planned to use in order to minimise casualties.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who attended the dinner himself, said political violence and rhetoric must stop and stressed that the full weight of federal justice now fell on Allen. Further charges are expected as the investigation continues.
