New surveillance footage has revealed the moment a Secret Service agent fired multiple times at the suspect who stormed the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
The video, obtained by The Washington Post, is much clearer than the grainy clip Donald Trump posted showing the heavily armed suspect Cole Allen running past a checkpoint to allegedly attempt to carry out an attack against the president and other Cabinet officials at Saturday’s black-tie event.
The footage shows that Allen appeared to point a shotgun at one of the Secret Service agents stationed at a magnetometer near the entrance to the ballroom, but did not fire.
The agent immediately drew his weapon, with screenshots from the surveillance footage suggesting he fired at least four times before running off-screen.
Moments after Allen ran past the magnetometer at the Washington Hilton, he tripped and fell to the ground before being apprehended. Allen was not shot before he was detained.
The Secret Service agent who fired at Allen, who has not yet been identified, was shot once in the chest but was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have released a selfie taken by Allen in his hotel room moments before the shooting. He is seen in the picture smirking, wearing an all-black outfit and a red tie. He’s also strapped with several guns, ammunition, knives, and wire cutters in the image.
Allen has been charged with attempted assassination of the president, 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.
While the footage analyzed by the Post did not appear to show Allen firing his shotgun, the video may not capture all the shots fired during the brief chaos.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the investigation is examining whether the Secret Service agent may have been inadvertently shot by a fellow officer rather than the suspect.
“We want to get that right, so we’re still looking at that,” Blanche said. “We do believe that, as the complaint lays out, that the suspect fired out of his shotgun, and we know that that happened. But as far as getting into exacting ballistics, I’m not going to do that today because it’s still being looked at and finalized.”
The affidavit outlining the charges against Allen states that Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a “loud gunshot” as he ran toward the magnetometer before the officer drew his weapon and opened fire.
A manifesto allegedly written by Allen before the attack stated he would only target Secret Service agents “if necessary,” and would attempt to injure them rather than kill them.
The manifesto adds that hotel security, the National Guard, and Capitol Police officers would “not be targets if at all possible (aka unless they shoot at me).”
