{"id":607545,"date":"2026-04-26T14:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607545\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T14:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:13:07","slug":"attacker-at-correspondents-dinner-was-said-to-be-targeting-top-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607545\/","title":{"rendered":"Attacker at correspondents’ dinner was said to be targeting top officials"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The accused gunman<\/a> who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner with guns and knives traveled across the country before the event and is believed to have been targeting President Donald Trump and members of his administration, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.<\/p>\n

Blanche also said officials believe the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where in recent days he checked in as a guest to the hotel where one of the glitziest events in the nation\u2019s capital was being held Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Investigators have not publicly named the suspect, but two law enforcement officials familiar with the matter have identified him to The Associated Press as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officials who have examined the gunman\u2019s electronic devices and his writings preliminarily believe he intended to target administration members in attendance at the dinner. He attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a chaotic scene that resulted in shots being fired, President Donald Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,\u201d Blanche told NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suspect is believed to have purchased the two firearms he carried within the last couple of years, Blanche said. He is not being cooperative and is expected to face multiple charges on Monday. <\/p>\n

Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe failed,\u201d Blanche said on CBS\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d \u201cLaw enforcement did their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities believe the suspect fired the shot that hit the Secret Service officer, who is expected to make a full recovery, Blanche said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be great, he\u2019s going to be fine, and thank God he was wearing a bulletproof vest,\u201d Blanche said Sunday on ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Social media posts that appear to match the suspect show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.<\/p>\n

A May 2025 profile photo of Allen appears to match<\/a> the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by Trump. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master\u2019s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills.<\/p>\n

Allen earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.<\/p>\n

The shooting at the security barricades happened minutes after the event got underway.<\/p>\n

The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the room as guests ducked under tables by the hundreds. Gasps echoed through the ballroom as guests realized something was happening. Hundreds of journalists immediately got on phones to call in information.<\/p>\n

\u201cOut of the way, sir!\u201d someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a \u201cGod Bless America\u201d chant began as the president was escorted offstage. Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.<\/p>\n

After an initial attempt to resume the event, it was scrapped for the night and will be rescheduled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The accused gunman who tried to storm the ballroom at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,2356,157,3505,12,793,7922,3073,3,111,4382,116294,7917,21,19,22,20,25,24,800],"class_list":{"0":"post-607545","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-district-of-columbia","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-general-news","14":"tag-gun-violence","15":"tag-indictments","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-shootings","19":"tag-todd-blanche","20":"tag-u-s-secret-service","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa","27":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}