The gunman who charged a security checkpoint and opened fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman was targeting Trump officials Saturday night.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, told police he was going after “administration officials” at the press gala inside the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington, DC, sources told The Post.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the alleged motive to NBC News.
Suspected gunman Cole Allen is detained on the ground in the lobby of the Washington Hilton hotel on April 25, 2026. truthsocial/realDonaldTrump
Allen wasn’t targeting anyone in particular, and officials aren’t yet sure if he was trying to kill President Trump specifically, sources said.
“He was trying to just breach his way in and take whoever he could,” one law enforcement source told The Post.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matthew Quinn said the shooter was trying to carry out a “national tragedy” while all eyes were on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“[Allen] underestimated the protective capabilities of the U.S. Secret Service, and was stopped at first contact. The strength of our layered security posture was evident, with a myriad of countermeasures ahead,” he wrote in a statement.
Allen, a CalTech-educated teacher from Torrance, Calif., was identified by sources as the suspect accused of rushing a security checkpoint armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives before he was subdued.
Secret Service agents rush President Donald Trump off the dais after a shooting inside the Washington Hilton hotel on April 25, 2026. REUTERS
The shooting erupted just after 8:30 p.m., about 20 minutes after Trump and first lady Melania Trump had just made their grand entrance onto the dais.
Officials have not revealed a possible motive behind the shooting.
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Trump said he didn’t believe the gunman’s attack was related to the ongoing US-Israeli war in Iran.
“It’s not going to deter me from winning the war in Iran. I don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I really don’t think so, based on what we know,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday evening.
The New York Post front cover for April 26, 2026.
A Secret Service agent was shot in the vest during the gunfight.
The unidentified agent was rushed to a hospital and is in “great spirits,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House Saturday night.
Allen, an engineering grad, has been charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and with assault of a federal officer, Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said Saturday.
The crazed gunman attempted to barge into the ballroom of approximately 2,500 people, which included the first couple, Vice President JD Vance, Trump cabinet members and journalists.
Security footage captured the moment a gunman raced past law enforcement officials during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25, 2026. Donald Trump/Truth Social
Secret Service agents whisked away the president and first lady as other guests took cover underneath their tables.
Allen appeared to gain entry into the hotel by paying for a room and smuggled a cache of weapons inside, officials said. A volunteer told The Post that they saw him assemble a long weapon “in [an] unsecured room” before making a mad dash towards the ballroom.
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Authorities seized a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives when they nabbed Allen.
Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Blanche said Allen took a cross-country train to get to the gala, originating in Los Angeles and traveling through Chicago before ending up in DC.
President Donald Trump holds a press conference at the White House on April 25, 2026. AFP via Getty Images
Host Shannon Bream noted that Americans rarely take such lengthy trips by train, and surmised he may have avoided air travel to sidestep tracking methods and security procedures, and asked whether his choice raised any red flags.
“I mean, look, you can travel by plane, car, or train. And it appears he traveled by train. Why he did that, we don’t know at this point. But it could be the reasons you just described. It could be other reasons.”
He said investigators were combing through clues contained in “emails” they obtained after executing multiple search warrants in LA, Allen’s room at the Washington Hilton and a number of his electronic devices.
“There’s things we’re looking through right now to help us understand what his motivation was to the extent that it’s written down somewhere,” he said.
Blanche said although the Justice Department didn’t yet know if Allen was in possession of the firearms while in transit — he conceded speculatively “that could be another reason why he traveled by train, because he had those firearms with him.”
The shooter — blasted by Trump as a “sick” individual – was swiftly taken down in the lobby by the Secret Service.
He was hauled off from the hotel in the back of an ambulance.
Trump assured that the White House Correspondents’ Dinner will be rescheduled within the next 30 days.