WASHINGTON, Apr 25: President Donald Trump and officials in his administration were the likely targets of a suspect who fired on a security agent guarding the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday.
The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested. Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the dinner.
"It does appear that he, he did, in fact, set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president," Blanche told NBC News' "Meet the Press," adding that the suspect likely traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington. The suspect will be charged in federal court on Monday with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, Blanche said, adding he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack.
Trump told reporters he believed that he was the target of the attack. The president has survived two previous attempts on his life since 2024, a period of deepening political polarization in the United States.
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a California resident about 31 years old. Little was immediately known about Allen's background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, near Los Angeles.
Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but it was too soon to say what his motivation was, Carroll said.
Based on preliminary information, he was believed to have been a guest at the hotel, Carroll added.
The chaotic events from around 8:35 p.m. (0035 GMT on Sunday) raised fresh questions about the security of top U.S. officials, many of whom were gathered in the hotel's expansive ballroom.
A focus of the investigation is likely to be how the gunman was able to smuggle the shotgun into the hotel, which hosts the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner, a marquee fixture of Washington's social calendar. "REUTERS
