New CCTV released by prosecutors appears to show a gunman bursting out of a hotel doorway and sprinting through a security checkpoint in just four seconds while President Donald Trump attended a press gala.
The clip seems to show a security agent firing toward the running man, who carries a long‑barrelled weapon, though it does not clearly show whether the suspect fired. The video does not include the moment prosecutors say the attacker fell and was arrested at the Washington Hilton.
Prosecutors identify the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. He has not entered a plea.
The US Department of Justice says the footage also shows Allen “casing the area” the day before the dinner after checking in as a guest. Prosecutors say he is seen walking a Hilton corridor and entering the gym. They allege 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.
Trump, Vice‑President JD Vance, cabinet members and other officials were rushed from the venue after gunfire. The new video, posted on X by US Attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro, appears to be a higher‑quality version of a clip previously shared by Trump.
In the footage, about a dozen security agents gather around a checkpoint. A man in a long dark coat walks through a corridor and into a doorway; moments later the gunman, without the coat, re‑emerges and sprints through a metal detector with both hands on what looks like a firearm. It appears an officer fires at the suspect. Prosecutors have said the agent was struck in the ballistic vest but 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 asking a judge to hold Allen in custody did not mention an officer being shot; it states that as the suspect ran through the checkpoint, a Secret Service officer “observed the defendant fire the shotgun in the direction of the stairs leading down to the ballroom.” Earlier charging documents alleged one officer was struck in the vest by a single shot. Defence attorneys have questioned claims that Allen opened fire.
On Fox News, the director of the US 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 hit his knee on a magnetometer box while being engaged, then fell and was subdued.
Allen faces additional charges, including transporting a firearm between states to commit a felony and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence—each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.
