Prosecutors have made public never-before-seen closed-circuit security footage that captures the chaotic four-second encounter of an alleged assassination attempt targeting former President Donald Trump during a high-profile Washington press gala. The incident unfolded Saturday at the Washington Hilton, where Trump was in attendance at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. The newly released video shows 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, the accused attacker, bursting out of a hotel doorway and charging straight through a secured checkpoint while carrying a long-barrelled weapon. The footage captures a responding security agent opening fire on the sprinting suspect as Allen raises his firearm. The short clip does not clarify whether Allen successfully discharged his weapon, nor does it include the sequence investigators previously described where the suspect was tackled and taken into custody. Prosecutors additionally confirmed that the CCTV footage also captured Allen conducting pre-attack surveillance of the venue one day before the dinner, which was hosted in the hotel’s basement ballroom. Court documents and official statements outline that Allen checked into the Washington Hilton as a paying guest 24 hours before he attempted to carry out the attack. Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche explained that the suspect managed to run roughly 60 feet (18 meters) down the hotel corridor before law enforcement officers stopped and subdued him. Per official charging documents, one responding officer was struck by a single bullet fired from Allen’s weapon, though the round was stopped by the officer’s ballistic vest, preventing serious injury or death. Immediately after being hit, that same officer drew his service weapon and returned fire, shooting multiple rounds at Allen. Remarkably, none of the officer’s bullets struck Allen, Blanche confirmed. Allen has formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of attempted assassination of the former U.S. president. The release of the new footage comes as the legal process moves forward, offering new public context for the botched attack that unfolded near one of the nation’s most prominent sitting political leaders.
New footage shows how Trump dinner gunman charged through security in four seconds
