US federal prosecutors released a video on Thursday showing Cole Tomas Allen running through sensor gates, firing at a policeman as he rushes towards the ballroom where President Donald Trump was attending the April 25 White House Correspondents’ Dinner for the first time in his two terms.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for Washington, posted the video on social media amid questions over whose bullet struck a Secret Service officer as Allen ran towards the ballroom that had over 2,000 attendees, including scores of Trump administration officials and journalists, among others. Prosecutors had previously claimed the agent was shot in the bullet-resistant vest, but had not confirmed it was Allen who shot the agent.
Pirro said the video shows “Cole Allen shoot a US Secret Service officer during his attempt to assassinate the President”. “There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire,” she said, adding that the video had already been provided to the US District Court.
Today, we are releasing video already provided to U.S. District Court showing Cole Allen shoot a U.S. Secret Service officer during his attempt to assassinate the President at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly… pic.twitter.com/a8gRXkW6BH
— US Attorney Pirro (@USAttyPirro) April 30, 2026
The video shows Allen shooting at the cop, who shot back several times. The video does not make it clear who was hit by the bullet shot by Allen. Police and secret service agents jumped into action, as more streamed out of the ballroom to restrain and arrest Allen.
The video also shows Allen, who was staying at the Washington Hilton as a guest, spending around two minutes at the gym within the premises a day before the shooting.
Allen, a 31-year-old California-based part-time tutor for a test preparation company and is an amateur video game developer, agreed earlier Thursday to remain jailed while he awaits trial. He did not enter a plea during his brief appearance in federal court. He also referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions.
In court papers pressing for Allen’s continued detention, prosecutors wrote Wednesday that Allen took a picture of himself in his hotel room just minutes before the incident, and that he was outfitted with an ammunition bag, a shoulder gun holster and a sheathed knife.
Allen, from the state of California, was charged in court Monday with trying to assassinate the Republican president, as well as two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran defended the agency’s security plan for the event and said he would not change it. He said in a Fox News interview that the attack was stopped within seconds at the outermost perimeter of a multi-layered security bubble around the president. The distance from the magnetometers to the podium where Trump was seated was 355 feet, with two sets of stairs, a doorway and many more armed Secret Service officers in between, he said.