Suspected Correspondents' Dinner shooter making 1st court appearance
The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives while President Donald Trump was in attendance is appearing in court Monday to face charges in a chaotic encounter that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being rushed off stage and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was walked out and is sitting in court wearing a blue jumpsuit. He is flanked by two U.S. marshals.
Allen was taken into custody after the shooting on Saturday night and is being charged in federal court in D.C. Court papers laying out the charges were not immediately available, though authorities have said Allen will face charges including assault on a federal officer and using a firearm during a crime of violence. Additional charges are expected as investigators’ work continues.
Authorities say an officer wearing a bullet-resistant vest was shot in the vest but is expected to recover.
It was unclear if Allen, of Torrance, California, had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. Reporters called multiple phone numbers listed for Allen and relatives in public records, and there was no answer when a reporter knocked on the door of his home.
Ten minutes before the shooting, Allen sent a long message to his family characterizing himself as a “friendly federal assassin,” investigators said. He described his targets as “administration officials” and alluded to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions.
His family said they alerted police when they saw his writings. They said Allen had a tendency to make radical statements and often referred to a plan to do something.
Allen is believed to have traveled by train from California to Chicago and then onto Washington, where he checked himself in as a guest at the hotel where the gala dinner was held with its typically tight security, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.
Video posted by Trump shows a man, who authorities say was armed with guns and knives, running past a security barricade as Secret Service agents run toward him.
Records show Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.
The guns Allen had were legally purchased a few years ago.
FBI Director Kash Patel said he and Blanche will share additional details at a news conference later Monday.
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