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Startling video footage has emerged capturing the exact moment gunshots erupted during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last weekend.
Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, shared what seems to be surveillance camera footage of the shooting incident via X on Thursday, April 30. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly appears in the footage surveying the Washington Hilton a day ahead of the event attended by President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and numerous other government officials on Saturday, April 25.
The footage transitions from Friday, April 24, to the evening of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
During the event, the footage shows officials apparently deactivating a security checkpoint when Allen, 31, reportedly charges past the magnetometer brandishing a firearm. He then allegedly engages in a gunfight with at least one security officer.
The injured officer was hit in his bulletproof vest and later taken to the hospital. At a press briefing late Saturday, President Trump, 79, informed reporters that the officer’s life was protected by the “obviously very effective bulletproof vest” he was wearing.
The wounded agent was struck in his protective vest and later hospitalized. President Trump, 79, told reporters at a White House press briefing late Saturday that the agent was “saved by the fact that he was wearing, obviously, a very good bulletproof vest.”
“The vest did the job,” Donald briefed the media. “I just spoke to the officer and he was doing great, he’s in great shape, in very high spirits and I told him we love him and respect him and he’s a very proud guy, he’s very proud of what he does, the Secret Service agent.”
On Thursday, Pirro, 74, claimed that she was releasing this stunning new footage to debunk theories that the Secret Service agent was wounded by friendly fire in the midst of the chaos.
“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,” Pirro tweeted. “There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire. The video also shows Allen casing the area in the Hilton Hotel the day before the attack. My office along with the @FBI will continue this extensive investigation to bring Cole Allen to justice.”
Allen was apprehended during the armed altercation and was subsequently charged with one count of attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, transportation of a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, per the Justice Department. He has not yet entered a plea.
As shots were fired outside of the Washington Hilton ballroom, Vice President Vance, 41, was quickly evacuated from the main stage. It took around 20 seconds before the Trumps were rushed to safety by Secret Service agents.
Asked about the delay in his evacuation by reporters, the president told 60 Minutes on Sunday, April 26, “What happened is, it was a little bit me. I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for [the shooter].”
Cole Tomas Allen allegedly exchanges fire with security agent. Courtesy X/Jeanine Pirro
“I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time,” he added. “I was surrounded by great people, and I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said, ‘Wait a minute. Let me see.’”
Vance opened up to Fox News about his experience on Wednesday, April 29, explaining that he was more concerned for his pregnant wife, Usha Vance, watching from home. (The Vances announced in January that they are expecting their fourth child.)
“I’m sitting up there on the dais with some journalists and obviously the President of the United States a few seats to my right. There’s a lot of commotion. You hear some loud noises. I had no idea what it was,” he recalled.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt broke her silence on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting after declaring there would be “shots fired” at the event. Leavitt, 28, took to Instagram on Sunday, April 26, to reflect on the shooting that saw her, President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump and other administration officials evacuated […]
The vice president continued, “Before I had any idea what was going on, I started seeing people duck under their tables or respond to what was going on far in the back of the ballroom. An agent comes and whispers in my ear, says basically, ‘Sir, we have to leave.’ … The agent sort of lifts me to my feet and I walk off stage and go to my hold room and wait and see what’s going on.”
Vance acknowledged that the frightening ordeal gave him new appreciation for the Secret Service agents who put their lives on the line every day.
“As you learn this information, the thing that I really gained an appreciation for, is what an amazing job the agents of the Secret Service do,” he told Fox News.
Allen remains behind bars ahead of his trial.