Trump posts controversial photo, footage of alleged gunman: What we know about suspect Cole Thomas Allen
Trump was rushed to safety by Secret Service after an armed man opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed to safety by Secret Service agents after an armed man entered the ballroom at the Washington Hilton and opened fire during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday.
Authorities confirmed the suspected gunman, later identified as Cole Thomas Allen, was apprehended at the scene. He has been taken into custody and is expected to be charged with multiple offenses, including using a firearm during a crime of violence, on Monday.
According to police, the suspect is a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, who had no previous criminal record.
CBS reports that Allen worked as a tutor in Torrance, in the south-western suburbs of Los Angeles, after graduating from the California Institute of Technology.
Suspect believed to be hotel guest
Jeffrey Carroll, interim chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, said authorities believe the suspected gunman was a guest at the hotel where the shooting took place.
“We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we’ll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there,” Carroll said.
Officer shot, protected by vest
Police also said Allen had been involved in an altercation on his way into the hotel with a police officer. The officer was shot but was unharmed because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Trump suggests he may have been target
Although it remains unclear whether Trump was the gunman’s intended target, the president said he believed that may have been the case during a news conference following the incident.
It did not take Trump long to reappear online. He did so in typically outlandish fashion, posting a close-up photo of what appeared to be the suspect lying face down on the floor after being apprehended.
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