A federal court in Washington indicted the man suspected of opening fire at a press gala attended by Donald Trump on Monday, April 27, for attempted assassination of the American president and two weapons-related offenses.
Cole Allen, 31, faces a life sentence if found guilty of trying to kill Donald Trump during the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington. Allen, from Torrance, near Los Angeles, California, did not specify how he planned to plead at the hearing. He was held in custody pending a new appearance.
Prosecutors told the court that the suspect was in possession of a shotgun, a semi-automatic pistol, and three knives when he tried to breach the security checkpoint at the Hilton hotel where the event was held.
Multiple shots were fired before the presumed shooter was subdued at an entrance checkpoint to the room where the dinner was taking place. He did not approach the president or other guests. This attack marks the third attempted assassination of 79-year-old Donald Trump in less than two years. He was first targeted in July 2024 during a campaign rally where he was injured in the ear, and then a few months later at his golf course in Florida.
The White House on Monday denounced a “cult of hate from the left” as stirring up political violence. The Democratic opposition has criticized what they see as an authoritarian drift from the Trump administration.
Scenes of chaos unfolded as Secret Service agents evacuated Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and Vice President JD Vance after the shots were fired. Surveillance footage shared by Trump on Truth Social showed a person rushing through a metal detector at the gala entrance, with law enforcement officers drawing their weapons.
The annual dinner of Washington’s political and media elite was disrupted by the shots, causing hundreds of guests in formal attire to take cover on the floor of the Hilton ballroom. Trump himself boasted on Sunday during an interview that he was not worried, stating, “I know life. We live in a crazy world.”
Donald Trump also mentioned on Fox News that the suspect had written a “highly anti-Christian” text, signed with the name “Cole ‘coldForce’ Friendly Federal Assassin Allen,” sent to his family minutes before the attack.
World leaders expressed shock and support for Donald Trump after the attack, condemning political violence. King Charles III, visiting the United States for a state visit, expressed relief that the president was unharmed. It was at the same Hilton hotel in Washington where President Ronald Reagan was shot and injured in 1981 in an assassination attempt.
