US5 min(s) read
Published 07:18 26 Apr 2026 GMT
A 31-year-old California man is in custody after charging a security checkpoint armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. A Secret Service agent was shot in his bullet-resistant vest and is expected to recover.
The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner, usually one of the more sedate nights on the Washington calendar, all tuxedos, salads and rehearsed jokes, descended into chaos on Saturday evening after a man opened fire near the entrance to the ballroom where President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration were seated.
Guests were partway through a spring pea and burrata salad when the noise started. Trump later said he initially thought it was a tray being dropped. Several journalists in the room reported hearing between five and eight loud bangs shortly after 8:30pm. Within seconds, Secret Service agents were sweeping the President and First Lady off the main stage. "Out of the way, sir!" someone shouted, as hundreds of attendees ducked under tables and reached for their phones.
The President, the First Lady, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FBI Director Kash Patel and other senior officials were all evacuated unharmed. Trump was briefly taken to a special presidential suite that was built into the hotel after Ronald Reagan was shot outside the same building in 1981 — a detail that has not been lost on commentators in the hours since.
Authorities have identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California. According to law enforcement officials, Allen was a guest at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner is held each year, and is believed to have approached a magnetometer screening area in the lobby armed with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives.
D.C. Metropolitan Police interim chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect exchanged gunfire with officers before being tackled to the ground and handcuffed. He was not struck by any rounds himself, but was taken to a local hospital for evaluation. A Secret Service agent who was hit in the chest was protected by his ballistic vest and has since been released from hospital.
Public records and a LinkedIn profile matching the suspect's name and photograph describe Allen as a 2017 mechanical engineering graduate of the California Institute of Technology, who later earned a master's in computer science. He had been working part-time as a teacher at a tutoring company called C2 Education, where he was named "teacher of the month" in December 2024. Officials have publicly stated he had no criminal record and was not previously known to law enforcement.
FBI agents and tactical teams descended on a residence on Gramercy Avenue in Torrance late on Saturday night, where aerial footage showed armoured vehicles and agents in tactical gear in the residential neighbourhood.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro confirmed Allen would be charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, with further charges expected as the investigation unfolds. Authorities believe he acted alone. No motive has been made public.
Trump returned to the White House around two hours after the incident, still in his tuxedo, and held a hastily arranged news conference flanked by Vance, Patel, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. He praised the Secret Service and the agent who was shot, calling him "a very proud guy." On Truth Social he posted footage of the suspect being detained, writing that the gunman had "charged a security checkpoint armed with many weapons."
Investigators are now examining a long gun and shell casings recovered from the scene, and have asked anyone with information to come forward. The suspect's hotel room is being searched. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said there was "no reason" to believe anyone else was involved or that the public was in any further danger.
For the President, it is the latest in a series of incidents. Butler in July 2024, the West Palm Beach golf course later that summer, and now the Hilton, that will inevitably renew scrutiny of the Secret Service and the security perimeter around major political events. For everyone else, it is another reminder of how quickly a routine night in Washington can turn.
