During the evening of Saturday, April 25, over a hundred guests gathered for the dinner of the White House Correspondents’ Association in the presence of Donald Trump when a man entered and fired several shots. The suspect, a 31-year-old teacher and video game developer, was apprehended.
Around 9:00 pm, as the dinner was in full swing, five shots rang out behind the reception door, just as Donald and Melania Trump had taken their seats on the stage on Saturday, April 25 in the evening. The American president was evacuated and the suspect was apprehended. The man was identified by law enforcement officers as Cole Thomas Allen, a teacher and developer from Torrance, California. He will appear before the court on Monday.
“This is not the first time in recent years that our Republic has been attacked by a potential assassin seeking to kill,” said Donald Trump, still in a tuxedo, during a press conference at the White House about two hours after the incident.
Facing Donald Trump were journalists in bow ties and evening gowns, who like him had attended this annual dinner bringing together the cream of politics and media in Washington.
The American president told the press that the assailant is a “lone wolf unbalanced” and a “lunatic”. Shortly after the shots, President Donald Trump released a photo of the shooter, half-naked, lying face down, handcuffed behind his back and surrounded by federal agents.
Quickly, details about the assailant’s identity were released by American media. The suspect appears to be Cole Thomas Allen, 31 years old. He hails from Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles in California. American media outlet CNN accessed his LinkedIn profile, which was no longer accessible on Sunday morning. The thirty-year-old is reportedly a video game developer, engineer, and teacher.
Authorities stated that he had no criminal record and was not known to the police before the shots.
The police reported that the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a pistol, and several knives when he was arrested.
The thirty-year-old will appear in court on Monday, announced American authorities at a press conference. He will be charged with two counts: the first for using a firearm in a violent crime and the second for assaulting a federal agent with a dangerous weapon, said the prosecutor for the American capital, Jeanine Pirro.
According to preliminary information, the Washington police said that the suspect had reserved a room at the Hilton Washington Hotel where the gala dinner took place.
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