White House press dinner shooting suspect to face criminal charges

The suspected gunman who tried to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner was expected to appear in federal court to face criminal charges on Monday.

The alleged shooter, identified by law enforcement agencies as Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old man from Torrance in southern California, faces charges including assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer.

Allen, who hasn’t been officially confirmed as the alleged gunman by US officials, has no record of criminal charges or a civil court history in Los Angeles county, according to a records search.

The suspect could also be charged with trying to assassinate the US president, the acting US attorney general, Todd Blanche, told CNN on Sunday.

Earlier in the day Blanche had said that the alleged gunman who had charged towards the ballroom where the black-tie event was being held on Saturday night but was stopped, was believed to have been targeting top officials of the Trump administration who were at the dinner, “likely including the president”.

He was also “not actively cooperating” with the authorities, Blanche added.

Investigators have yet to establish a motive. They believe that the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives when he was arrested, and that he acted alone. Police have been searching an address in Torrance linked to Allen, and writings reportedly found in his hotel room are also being examined as part of the investigation.

The suspect is thought to have traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he checked in as a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the glitzy annual journalists’ gala was being held.

Trump and his officials were rushed to safety after the alleged gunman charged through a security checkpoint outside the hotel ballroom and shots were fired before he was subdued by law enforcement officers. A federal agent was shot but was wearing a bulletproof vest, and was discharged from the hospital on Sunday.

Trump had agreed to attend this year’s dinner for the first time as a sitting president after boycotting previous years. Several top members of his cabinet, including Vice-President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also in attendance, along with thousands of members of the media.

Trump called the attacker a “lone wolf whack job” as he returned to the White House on Saturday night in an extraordinary news conference soon after the incident, with the president and several members of the press still in their ballroom attire.

After leaving the same hotel where former president Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, Trump told reporters that being president was “a dangerous profession”. “When you’re impactful, they go after you. When you’re not impactful, they leave you alone,” he said.