Prosecutors released CCTV that appears to capture a gunman bursting from a hotel doorway and sprinting through a security checkpoint in roughly four seconds while President Donald Trump attended a press gala.
The clip seems to show a security officer firing at the running man, who is holding a long‑barrelled weapon, but it does not clearly show whether the suspect fired his weapon. The video does not include the moment prosecutors say the attacker fell and was taken into custody at the Washington Hilton.
Authorities have identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, who is charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. He has not entered a plea.
The Department of Justice says the footage also shows Allen “casing the area” the day before the dinner after checking in as a guest. Prosecutors allege he was seen walking a Hilton corridor and entering the gym, and that he carried a semi‑automatic handgun, a pump‑action shotgun and three knives as he ran along a terrace level above the ballroom where the gala took place.
Officials said Trump, Vice‑President JD Vance, cabinet members and other guests were rushed out of the venue after gunfire was reported. The newly posted video, shared on X by U.S. Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro, appears to be a clearer version of footage previously circulated by Trump.
In the clip, about a dozen security agents are gathered around a checkpoint. A man wearing a long dark coat walks down a corridor and through a doorway; moments later the gunman, without the coat, re‑emerges and races through a metal detector with both hands on what looks like a firearm. An officer appears to fire at the suspect. Prosecutors have said an agent was struck in a ballistic vest but that the alleged assailant was not shot. A Secret Service spokesman said the officer was not seriously injured.
Ballistics experts are examining whether the officer was hit by the suspect’s shot or by return fire. Pirro wrote on X that “there is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire.” A prosecutors’ memo seeking to keep Allen in custody says a Secret Service officer “observed the defendant fire the shotgun in the direction of the stairs leading down to the ballroom.” Earlier charging documents said one officer was struck in the vest by a single shot. Defense attorneys have questioned claims that Allen opened fire.
On Fox News, the director of the U.S. Secret Service said the suspect fired at an agent at “point‑blank range” and that the officer “heroically returned fire” with five shots. He said the suspect appeared to strike his knee on a magnetometer box during the engagement, then fell and was subdued.
Allen faces additional federal charges, including transporting a firearm across state lines to commit a felony and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.