1 of 2 | Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, Calif., is tackled and arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he rushed the ballroom doors of the Washington Hilton with a shotgun during the Washington Press Association Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. Photo courtesy President Donald Trump/Truth Social | License Photo
April 27 (UPI) — Cole Allen was charged Monday with attempting to assassinate the president during a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner over the weekend.
Allen, 31, of Torrence, Calif., was arraigned in federal court in Washington, D.C., where he was also charged with discharging a firearm during a violent crime, and transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce, CNN reported.
During the hearing, federal prosecutors asked that Allen be detained pending his trial. The judge set a detention hearing for April 30.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, had predicted in a news conference Sunday that Allen would be formally charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer using a dangerous weapon.
“The defendant will be arraigned on Monday in federal district court. But make no mistake, there will be many more charges based upon the information that we are learning in this very fluid situation,” Pirro said.
“It is clear, based upon what we know so far, that this individual was intent on doing as much harm and as much damage as he could,” added Pirro, who said she was present when the shooting started at the event at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday night.
Beyond that, Pirro said investigators were working to discover the suspect’s possible motivation for the alleged attack and would not be drawn on whether he was specifically targeting Trump, or whether he was cooperating with law enforcement.
“At this point, what we know is the individual charged the checkpoint with a firearm in his hand. We know he was running in the direction of the ballroom that the president was in as well as other Cabinet members. So what his specific motivation was, we can’t say at this point. However, as we continue to investigate that, we’ll continue to work towards that,” she said.
Monday’s hearing is expected to be short — only for the judge to make Allen aware of his legal rights and for Pirro’s office to apply to remand Allen in custody.
Authorities believe the suspect acted alone in the incident in which a Secret Service Uniformed Division officer was allegedly shot and no one else has been arrested.
The Secret Service officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, was treated in the hospital and released.
Trump said Sunday that a suspect arrested in connection with the shooting had written an anti-administration “manifesto” that allegedly stated he was targeting members of the Trump administration.
He said that, based on the contents of the document, the suspect was “a sick guy” and anti-Christian.
“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred. And I think his sister or his brother actually was complaining about it. You know, they were even complaining to law enforcement. So he was, he was a very troubled guy,” Trump said.
The suspect allegedly sent the manifesto to members of his family minutes before that incident occurred, along with an apology, who then raised the alarm
The New London Police Department in Connecticut confirmed being contacted about 2 hours after the alleged attack at around 10:49 p.m. EDT on Saturday “by an individual who expressed concern about the incident that occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner earlier in the evening.”
Allen was a mechanical engineering graduate from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and also had a master’s degree in computer science from California State University Dominguez Hills in Carson City, the Los Angeles Times reported.
His LinkedIn profile states he was a member of Caltech’s Christian fellowship, as well as the Nerf club.
More recently, he was working developing video games and as a part-time private tutor teaching math and biology.
Allen’s voting registration record denotes “no party preference” and the only known record of any political donation in the past 10 years dates from 2024 when he gave $25, via an online fundraising platform, to former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in the November 2024 election.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump participate in the 2026 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in Washington on April 25, 2026. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI | License Photo
