During the dinner of the Association of Correspondents of the White Housea man who carried several arms tried to break into the event the president donald trumpso the celebration quickly turned into a situation of panic last saturday April 25 at the Hilton hotel Washington D.C.
Police arrested the suspect who evaded a security checkpoint and exchanged shots with law enforcement officers before being arrested at the event to commemorate freedom of the press, so the republican president was close to suffering another attempt against his life, as happened in the 2024when A bullet grazed his ear.
According to what was stated by the American newspaper The New York Timeslaw enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen31 years old, originally from Torrance, Californiawhere he allegedly works as a professor of computing and imparts knowledge about technology.
Faced with this situation, President Donald Trump, who was attending the dinner for the first time as president, said he heard a loud noise towards the back of the ballroom, before an officer of the Secret service would shout: “Shooting“, and the other agents ran towards the New Yorker to escort him, along with the first ladytowards the exit.
Who is Cole Tomas Allen?
According to the British television network BBCCole Tomas Allen wore knivesa shotgun and one gun at the time of being detained by two security forces agents, who told US authorities that the suspect was hosted in the hotel because main objective It was President Trump.
The American newspaper The New York Times found multiple accounts on social networks that appear to be linked to Cole Tomas Allen, and the outlet described the main suspect as a “independent video game developer and a computer science professor” in Torrance, California, where he evaluates the digital learning.
For his part, the acting chief of Police in Washington, Jeffrey Carrollstated that the suspect was not injured by the bullets, but was taken to the hospital for an examination. assessment. “So far, everything seems to indicate that this is an individual who acted alone. He was a lone gunman“, he stated, after sharing a photograph of the detainee.
According to the American broadcast television network C.B.S.Cole Tomas Allen has worked since January 2020 for a tutoring company in Torrance called C2 Education, and in December 2024 he was appointed “teacher of the month”with the aim of highlighting the teaching excellence, passion and commitment of whoever tried to attack the president.
The suspect was a Democrat
Federal Election Commission records showed that in October 2024, Cole Tomas Allen donated US$25 (Q192) to the ActBlue fundraising platform, money destined for the Democrat’s presidential campaign Kamala Harriswho called Donald Trump corrupt and warned of risks to democracy.
Finally, the attorney general of the United States, Todd Blanchedeclared to the American television network cnn that “it remains to be seen” whether more charges will be filed against the suspect, adding that Cole Tomas Allen could “certainly” be charged with attempted murder. murderdepending on the evidence against the California-born.