New surveillance images released this Friday by the Department of Justice show in detail how Cole Allen, 31 years old, managed to bypass the security device during the White House Correspondents' Dinner and get within meters of the room where President Trump was dining, in a confrontation that lasted just seven seconds before being subdued.
The attack occurred on April 25, just after 8:30 PM, at the Washington Hilton in Washington D.C., during the 105th Annual Correspondents' Dinner, which was attended by Trump and approximately 2,600 guests.
According to the images released by the federal prosecutor of the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, Allen descended from his room on the tenth floor via an internal staircase to the hotel terrace level, one floor above the ballroom.
He walked down a long corridor and entered a bank of elevators out of the cameras' reach, where he removed the jacket that concealed a 12-gauge pump shotgun.
Seconds later, a K-9 unit briefly appeared at the double doors that Allen had just crossed, stopped for a moment, and then moved away without raising the alarm.
Two seconds later, Allen burst through those doors, turned left, and in another two seconds ran through a magnetometer that Secret Service agents were in the process of dismantling.
Two seconds later, gunshots were heard.
The director of the Secret Service, Sean Curran, explained that the agent “returned fire while being shot at close range in the chest with a shotgun, and managed to fire five shots while falling.”
The agent was hit with pellets in the bulletproof vest and suffered some bruises.
Allen tripped over one of the magnetometer boxes, fell to the ground, and was handcuffed. No one was seriously injured.
Authorities found in his possession, in addition to the shotgun, a pistol, several knives, and what appeared to be a tactical vest, according to court documents.
Curran emphasized that Allen was neutralized at the outermost perimeter: "You're talking about almost 355 feet from the magnetometer to the podium. That's nearly 120 yards. It's a long distance to cover."
The images also reveal that Allen had scouted the hotel the day before the attack, walking through the halls, entering the gym, and talking to an employee.
The accused had booked three nights at the Washington Hilton itself to gain access as a guest without an invitation to the dinner, and traveled by train from California to avoid airport security checks.
About ten minutes before the attack, he sent his family a manifesto of approximately 1,000 words in which he identified Trump administration officials as targets in order of rank.
Trump reacted with irony when describing the attacker to the press: "They arrested the NFL runner. He was like a football runner. He was a fast guy. But he was arrested."
A judge ordered preventive detention without bail for Allen on April 30, who is facing three federal charges brought by the Department of Justice: attempting to assassinate the president, interstate transportation of a firearm to commit a felony, and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 11, when the grand jury may expand the charges against Allen, as announced by prosecutor Pirro.
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