Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting Suspect Charged With Attempting to Assassinate President Trump

Cole Tomas Allen, the alleged shooter at the White House Correspondents’ dinner, has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump.

Allen, 31, made his first appearance in court on Monday, April 27. Along with being formally accused of trying to assassinate the president, he was also charged with interstate transportation of weapons and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime, per NBC News.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine claimed that the school teacher traveled to Washington D.C. with multiple firearms – a 12 gauge pump action shotgun, a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol and three knives.

“Mr. Allen has no prior arrests or convictions,” Allen’s court-appointed defense lawyer Tezira Abe said. “He is presumed innocent at this time.”

Allen will return to court on Thursday, April 30, where a judge will determine if he’s eligible for pre-trial release. Until then, he remains in custody in D.C.

The former NASA intern allegedly rushed a security checkpoint during the WHCA dinner on Saturday, April 25, and ran toward the ballroom where the event was being held, according to a previous report from NBC News. He and law enforcement officials exchanged gunfire before he was tackled and handcuffed.

No one was seriously injured in the shooting.

“It is clear, based upon what we know so far, that this individual was intent on doing as much harm and as much damage as he could, and thankfully, because of the checkpoint right outside the ballroom where thousands of people were situated to hear the president of the United States, that checkpoint worked,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said shortly after the incident, per CBS News. “There was no one who was injured, but it was clear where this defendant was going.”

This was the first time Trump has attended the WHCA dinner since he became president.