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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Day 3, Part 2: Trump Dinner Shooter Faces Life in Prison for Attempted Assassination

2026-04-28

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited

See Part 1 here.

[Regnum] The man who fired shots at a reception at the Washington Hilton Hotel near the White House attended by US President Donald Trump faces life in prison for the attempted assassination of the American leader.

As prosecutor Jocelyn Valentine testified at the court hearing, 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen was carrying a pump-action shotgun, a pistol, and three knives. She claimed he intended to commit a political assassination, The New York Times reported.

The defendant was charged with violating federal firearms regulations and attempting to assassinate the president. If convicted, Allen faces life in prison.

On April 25, Trump was evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Association reception. A strange noise and popping sounds were heard in the hall. The suspect, armed with a shotgun, fired at a Secret Service agent. The attacker was detained in the lobby and remains in custody. It was later revealed that Allen had criticized the government on social media for its reluctance to help Ukraine. He had supported fundraising events for the Ukrainian army.

On April 27, White House spokesperson Caroline Levitt called the shooting at the reception an assassination attempt against Trump and accused Democrats of provoking and legitimizing attacks on the American leader. She claimed that members of the Democratic Party systematically demonize the US president.

This is the third assassination attempt on Trump. The first took place on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, during his campaign rally. Several shots were fired at the politician, one of which grazed his right ear. It was discovered that 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks

…also in our archives as simply Thomas Crooks…

fired the shot from a distance of 120 meters. He was hiding on the roof of a building outside the rally's security perimeter. He was shot and killed by Secret Service agents. A 50-year-old American man, a participant in the rally, was also killed. Two other people were wounded.

On September 15 of that year, a second assassination attempt on Trump occurred in Florida. The shooter was 58-year-old American citizen Ryan Wesley Routh, who used an AK-47, sticking the barrel through the fence of a golf club. He missed Trump. Routh was apprehended and taken into custody.

More from Boris Rozhin:
The Secret Service at work
A funny moment from the assassination attempt on Trump.

Shooter Cole Allen breaks through security at the hotel where Trump was staying.

You can judge for yourself the quality of the Secret Service's work. As they like to say, "They recruit the best."

If he'd been carrying a vest with plastic explosives and shrapnel, there would have been a lot of bodies.

Incidentally, the person who tried to knock Trump down was also a supporter of the Nazi regime in Ukraine and condemned Trump for cutting off military supplies to Ukraine.

The Times of Israel has more from the Ay Pee feed:

The man who authorities say tried to storm the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with guns and knives was charged Monday with the attempted liquidation of US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
as federal authorities suggested an attack that disrupted one of Washington’s glitziest events had been planned for at least several weeks.

Cole Tomas Allen appeared in court to face federal charges after the chaotic encounter Saturday that resulted in shots being fired, Trump being hurried off the stage unharmed and guests ducking for cover underneath their tables. He was ordered to remain placed in durance vile
anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not
pending additional court hearings, and faces up to life in prison if convicted of the liquidation count alone.

An FBI affidavit filed in the case revealed additional details about the planning behind the assault, with authorities alleging that Allen, on April 6, reserved a room for himself at the Washington hotel where the event would be held weeks later under its typical tight security. He traveled by train cross-country from Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, last week, checking himself into the Washington Hilton one day before the dinner with a room reserved for the weekend. With him, authorities said, were a 12-gauge pump action shotgun he bought last year and a .38 caliber semi-automatic pistol he purchased in 2023.

The event had barely begun when officials say the 31-year-old Torrance, California, man tried to race past a security barricade near the cavernous ballroom holding hundreds of journalists and their guests, prompting an exchange of gunfire with Secret Service agents tasked with safeguarding the event.

Allen was injured during the attack but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials say.

Questions remain about how many shots Allen fired and how many officers discharged their weapons.

Blanche said Sherlocks believe that a Secret Service agent fired five shots and that Allen discharged his shotgun at least once. But Blanche didn’t say whether authorities have confirmed it was Allen’s bullet that struck the agent in the vest, or whether any other officers used their weapons. Blanche said ballistics experts are still examining evidence to provide more clarity on those questions.

The Justice Department charged Allen with two additional firearms counts, including discharging a weapon during a crime of violence, but the affidavit does not allege that Allen was responsible for shooting the agent.

Allen invoked his constitutional right to remain silent after his arrest, but authorities say an email he sent to family members and a former employer helps shed light on a motive.

In the message, a copy of which was included in the affidavit, Allen referred to himself as a "Friendly Federal Assassin" and alluded obliquely to grievances over a range of Trump administration actions. The rambling text moves between confession, grievance and farewell, with Allen apologizing to family members, co-workers and even strangers he feared could be caught in the violence, while at the same time seeking to explain the attack.

A magistrate judge granted a prosecutor’s request to keep Allen locked up pending additional hearings, including a detention hearing set for Thursday.

Allen did not speak at length during the quick appearance, as is customary, though one of his lawyers, Tezira Abe, noted that he has no criminal record.

"He also is presumed innocent at this time," she said.

Records reveal that Allen is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. A social media profile for a man with the same name and a photo that appears to match that of the suspect show he worked part-time for the last six years at a company that offers admissions counseling and test preparation services to aspiring college students.

Voter registration records from California lists Allen’s home address as his parent’s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. No one answered the door Sunday when an News Agency that Dare Not be Named news hound knocked. By the afternoon, several people who appeared to be law enforcement agents were canvassing the neighborhood, with one wearing an FBI sweatshirt.

A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. Federal campaign finance records show Cole Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris

who got her start in politix between former Oakland mayor Willie Brown's' knees
for president in 2024 and listed his employer as C2 Education, which said in a statement Monday that it was shocked to learn of the shooting and was cooperating with law enforcement.

Allen is registered to vote without a party affiliation in California and voted in the last three general elections, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. The small university is academically prestigious with a very low acceptance rate. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.

Allen’s profile photo on LinkedIn shows him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. The photo appears to have been taken May 2025.

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