New Images Show Trump WHCA Gunman Charging Checkpoint, As USSS Agent Returns Fire – RedState
Surveillance photos show at least eight Secret Service and security agents reacting as Cole Tomas Allen rushed a checkpoint outside the White House Correspondents’ Association Ballroom at the Washington Hilton on April 25, with one agent drawing his weapon and opening fire as Allen charged forward holding a shotgun with both hands raised.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran has since confirmed that Allen, 31, fired first, striking an agent in his body armor, and that the agent returned fire with five shots, none of which hit the suspect.
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The photos show agents rushing seconds after Allen burst through a door and ran toward the checkpoint, where President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and senior Cabinet officials were gathered in the ballroom below.
“The officer did not shoot himself,” D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a news conference Thursday, fending off speculation about the source of the injury.
Surveillance footage did not clearly capture a muzzle flash from Allen’s shotgun, a question Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had refused to answer earlier in the week.
“We’re still looking into that,” Blanche said when asked who fired the shot that hit the officer. Director Curran’s confirmation resolved the matter.
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The officer, who has not been publicly identified, was struck once in his protective vest and taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Allen was not hit by gunfire despite the officer firing five shots at close range. He fell near a staircase leading to the ballroom and was taken into custody, according to charging documents.
Newly filed court documents also show that Allen spent time before the attack photographing himself in his hotel room with multiple weapons and watching live coverage of the event to confirm the president’s presence, according to prosecutors. According to an affidavit, he sent an email to his family shortly before the attack stating that administration officials were “targets, prioritized from highest to lowest,” and signed it with a nickname describing himself as a “friendly federal assassin.”
“Shortly thereafter, the defendant rushed to the checkpoint located on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a shotgun raised,” the government filing states.
Allen had traveled by train from Torrance, California, and arrived in Washington four days after leaving home. Prosecutors say the cross-country planning, reconnaissance of the hotel and sending a targeted email to his family demonstrate a calculated attempt to reach the president at one of Washington’s most secure annual events.
Allen carried a Mossberg Maverick 88 pump-action shotgun loaded with buckshot, a deliberate choice over slugs prosecutors say was intended to limit over-penetration while still inflicting lethal damage on those in the room.
He faces a possible life sentence on the most serious charge of attempting to assassinate the president, as well as additional federal charges of transporting firearms across state lines and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years, the BBC report linked above says.
Editor’s note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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