Cole Allen’s shotgun seen for the first time as chilling new details of how he was able to bypass security and charge the ballroom revealed
The shotgun that suspect Cole Allen allegedly brought to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been pictured for the first time.
Allen, 31, is accused of opening fire outside the gala, hitting a Secret Service member on Saturday night while Trump and his Cabinet members enjoyed their salad appetizers inside.
The suspect was also seen in a new photo, taken immediately after his arrest. Allen was pictured without a shirt, covered in a mylar blanket.
The Mossberg Maverick 12-gauge gun, which he was allegedly holding when he rushed through the security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton, was seen on a carpeted floor.
It was just one of the weapons Allen is accused of bringing to the event.
He was also armed with a handgun and knives when he rushed the security checkpoint on the floor above the reception, authorities have said.
After exchanging gunfire with law enforcement, the gunman was tackled to the ground.
Allen was just yards from the dinner where the President, Vice President, First Lady and most of Trump’s Cabinet were dining on Saturday evening when he was apprehended.
The shotgun that Cole Allen is accused of bringing to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been revealed for the first time
The suspect, without a shirt and covered in a mylar blanket, after his arrest in Washington, DC
Allen was reportedly staying at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was being held.
He is said to have avoided the hotel’s highly monitored corridors by slipping through an internal stairway that was less closely surveilled than the hallways and elevators.
After running down around ten stories in the stairwell, the alleged gunman emerged on a lower level close to the initial screening area where magnetometers and Secret Service were stationed.
Concerns have swirled over how Allen would be able to apparently bring the shotgun, a handgun and knives into the hotel without detection.
He was apprehended on a floor above the reception, though had he been able to continue down just one additional flight of stairs, he could have breached the dining hall where Trump and his top officials were dining.
After being evacuated to the White House following the gunfire, Trump noted that the hotel was not a particularly secure venue.
According to a manifesto he sent to family members moments before his planned attack, Allen was attempting to take out the President and members of his inner circle.
According to the New York Post, the note said: ‘Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial.
The President and First Lady Melania Trump sat on stage as the shots rang out on Saturday
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has called for a security meeting with USSS and the Department of Homeland Security after the shocking event
‘I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.
‘In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls).
A senior White House official told the Daily Mail that Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has called for a security meeting with USSS and the Department of Homeland Security to discuss the Saturday shooting.
‘President Trump has said he personally thinks they did an excellent job neutralizing the shooter and moving the President, First Lady, Vice President and Cabinet to safety,’ the senior White House official told the Daily Mail.
‘Nevertheless, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is convening a meeting early this week with the White House operations team, USSS, and DHS leadership to discuss protocol and practices for major events involving POTUS.’
Since the pair of assassination attempts on Trump during the 2024 campaign, multiple security lapses have roiled the Secret Service, including a group of protestors getting within feet of the President at a DC restaurant last year, breaches at Trump’s Florida home and most recently the press gala.
In late February, USSS and local law enforcement shot and killed Austin Martin, 21, after he breached the secure perimeter of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home with a shotgun.
In September 2025, the President was confronted by a group of screaming protesters at Joe’s Seafood in Washington.
The Code Pink activists were able to get within feet of Trump, prompting concern over how they knew about the President’s impromptu visit to the restaurant.
