What do we know about the shooting at the Correspondents’ Dinner and about the safety of the American president?

For the third time in three years, US President Donald Trump has escaped a potentially deadly attack. At the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which took place in Washington DC on Saturday evening, a 31-year-old teacher from California was arrested after opening fire on members of presidential security. What do we know about the attacker and the safety of the American president?

1What happened on Saturday night?

A gunman, identified as Cole Allen, tried to enter the ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC on Saturday, where the US President’s annual Correspondents’ Dinner for White House reporters was taking place. Armed with a pistol, a shotgun and several knives, he stormed a security checkpoint outside the venue.

There he exchanged shots with presidential security, who took him to the ground on the spot and then led him away in handcuffs. The shooter had previously fired five to eight shots and hit one officer. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and was not seriously injured. The attacker himself was not hit.

2Who is the shooter and what do we know about his motive?

The arrested suspect is 31-year-old Cole Allen from Torrance, a city just south of Los Angeles. After the arrest, Trump posted two photos Truth Social of a man lying on the ground with his hands behind his back. Formal information about Allen’s motives has not been released. According to Trump, the intelligence services assume that Allen is a lone wolf is, someone who acted alone. Two anonymous insiders report CBS News that Allen wanted to shoot members of the Trump administration.

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It didn’t get that far. As soon as the shots were fired, Trump and his entourage were quickly taken to safety. The shooter did not reach the room. He was taken to hospital as a precaution, but had no injuries.

Allen worked as a tutor and has no criminal history. He was not on the radar of the security services. He will be arraigned in federal court on Monday. There he will be charged with using a firearm during a violent crime and assaulting a federal agent with a weapon, prosecutors said
Jeanine Pirro. She expects to add additional charges during the investigation.

Acting Police Chief Jeffrey Carroll said the suspected shooter had likely booked a room at the Washington Hilton, the hotel where the dinner took place, according to news agencies. “We have cordoned off a room at the hotel, and we will follow the proper procedures to determine what was there.”

3What does the series of (foiled) attacks say about the safety of the American president?

It is not unusual for American presidents to become the target of attacks, whether foiled or otherwise. The Hilton in Washington has even previously been the scene of a failed assassination attempt on a president. In 1981, Republican President Ronald Reagan was shot at on its doorstep. He broke a rib and perforated a lung, but recovered in hospital.

Trump also came very close to a fatal shooting incident. At a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the then-presidential candidate was hit in the ear by a gunman in July 2024.

A few weeks later, a man was arrested at Trump’s golf course in Florida for allegedly trying to kill the president with a rifle from the bushes. Last month, a Pakistani man was convicted of a plot to kill Trump and other politicians on behalf of the Iranian regime.

Attorney General Todd Blanche called the Correspondents’ Dinner shooting “the worst and the best” in America. “All the best, because the law enforcement officers did exactly what they were supposed to do.”

“It is a dangerous profession,” Trump himself said. This does not only apply to the most protected politician in the country. In 2017, prominent Republican congressman Steve Scalise was seriously injured in a shooting at a baseball practice. In June 2025, Democratic politician Melissa Hortman was shot dead in her home with her husband.

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