High-quality footage of White House dinner gunman released
Cole Tomas Allen has been charged with attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump
The US Department of Justice has released new high-quality CCTV footage showing Cole Tomas Allen, who has been charged with attempting to assassinate US President Donald Trump, allegedly rushing past security and opening fire.
The incident took place on Saturday at the Washington Hilton, which hosted the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attended by the president, First Lady Melania Trump, White House officials, and journalists.
The footage, which has no sound, shows the suspect walking down a hallway before dashing past a metal detector screening area.
At one point, he points a shotgun at a security guard, while another guard fires several shots from a sidearm.
????#BREAKING: Newly released footage shows 31-year-old Cole Allen of California walking around The Washington Hilton in washington DC then soon opening fire on a U.S. Secret Service officer during an attempted attack targeting President Donald Trump and others at the White House… pic.twitter.com/ytHWUPlRxT
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) April 30, 2026
The suspect was tackled and restrained before reaching the ballroom where the president was seated. According to the DOJ, a Secret Service officer wearing a bulletproof vest was shot once in the chest.
Allen reportedly left a manifesto in which he, without identifying Trump by name, criticized his policies and described his intent to take action against “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor.”