{"id":762722,"date":"2026-04-30T02:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/762722\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T02:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T02:34:16","slug":"whcd-suspect-cole-allen-took-smirking-selfie-while-armed-to-the-teeth-before-attack-on-ballroom-docs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/762722\/","title":{"rendered":"WHCD suspect Cole Allen took smirking selfie while armed to the teeth before attack on ballroom: docs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/26\/us-news\/whcd-gunman-cole-allen-sent-anti-trump-manifesto-to-family-just-before-opening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Cole Tomas Allen<\/a>\u00a0found time to snap a chilling selfie in his room at the Washington Hilton about 30 minutes before he tried to assassinate President Trump and members of his cabinet during Saturday night\u2019s\u00a0White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Allen, 31, pictured himself at 8:03 p.m., smirking before heading downstairs and attempting to barge through a security checkpoint while carrying two firearms and multiple knives.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The alleged would-be assassin wore an all-black get-up with a red tie and was strapped in with sheathed knives, guns, and extra ammo, as well as \u201cpliers and wire cutters,\u201d prosecutors explained in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/s3.documentcloud.org\/documents\/28083136\/allen.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">motion seeking\u00a0Allen\u2019s\u00a0pretrial detention<\/a>\u00a0ahead of a Thursday hearing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cole Tomas Allen\u00a0found time to snap a chilling selfie in his room at the Washington Hilton about 30 minutes before he tried to assassinate President Trump and members of his cabinet. U.S. Department of Justice<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0The selfe was released as the DOJ fights to keep Allen behind bars. U.S. Department of Justice<\/p>\n<p>Allen sent his now-infamous manifesto, which he called an \u201cApology and Explanation,\u201d to members of his family at approximately 8:30 p.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShortly thereafter, the defendant rushed the screening checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a raised shotgun,\u201d\u00a0the filing went on.<\/p>\n<p>A shotgun carried by Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting incident in Washington, DC, at the annual White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner, is photographed.  via REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>Allen\u2019s weapons are pictured.  via REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>Allen of Torrance, Calif., was arraigned Monday on charges of attempting to assassinate the president, transporting weapons across state lines with intent to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the latest on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner:<\/p>\n<p> Donald Pearsall \/ NY Post Design<\/p>\n<p>If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe defendant traveled across the country with dangerous weapons for the purpose of attacking a meeting of the nation\u2019s most senior political leaders, including the President of the United States,\u201d prosecutors said.<\/p>\n<p>First lady Melania Trump and President Trump react to shots fired at the WHCD. Pool<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe intended to kill and fired his shotgun while trying to breach security and attack his target. Put simply, the defendant poses an uncommonly serious danger to the community if released pending trial,\u201d they added, noting that Allen\u2019s lack of previous criminal history was not relevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0Cole Tomas Allen\u00a0found time to snap a chilling selfie in his room at the Washington Hilton about&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":762723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[310316,5229,9611,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5223],"class_list":{"0":"post-762722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-2026-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-department-of-justice","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-us-news","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-white-house"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116491325681333784","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}