Suspect Charged with Attempt to Assassinate President in White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting
Officers recovered a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38-caliber pistol
WASHINGTON — On the evening of April 25, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, approached a security checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton hotel during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and ran through a magnetometer while holding a gun, after which shots were fired.
A U.S. Secret Service officer wearing a ballistic vest was struck once in the chest. The officer fired multiple times at Allen, after which the man fell to the ground with minor injuries and was arrested.
Officers recovered a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38-caliber pistol from Allen, who had traveled by train from the Los Angeles area to Chicago and then to Washington, D.C., arriving at approximately 1 p.m. on April 24. He checked into the Washington Hilton later that day after making a reservation on April 6 for three nights beginning April 24.
Shortly before 8:40 p.m. on April 25, Allen sent a scheduled email to family members and a former employer stating, “I wish I could have said anything earlier, but doing so would have made none of this possible. My sincerest apologies for all the trouble I’ve caused. (scheduled send)-Cole.” He signed the message “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen.”
Records show Allen purchased the 12-gauge shotgun on August 17, 2025, and the .38-caliber pistol on October 6, 2023, both in California. The serial numbers match the firearms recovered at the scene.
