The White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting suspect took hotel room selfies wearing a knife and other gear prior to the event, a federal pretrial detention memo states.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, apparently used his cell phone to snap pics of himself in a mirror where he was outfitted with a sheathed knife, a shoulder holster, pliers, wire cutters and a leather bag that was later discovered to contain ammunition.
JUST IN: Federal prosecutors release new images and details of Cole Allen and his alleged attempt to assassinate president Trump. Here is a mirror selfie he took about 30 minutes before charging past the magnetometers. https://t.co/SjBVCPQJQO pic.twitter.com/tBPnPDOQPS
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) April 29, 2026
The photo was snapped around 8:03 p.m., approximately 30 minutes before the shooting brought the Correspondents’ dinner to a halt.
After Allen was detained, police found him with a Mossberg 12-gauge pump action shotgun, a loaded Rock Island Armory 1911 .38-caliber pistol, and multiple knives and daggers.
According to the memo, Allen fired one shot in the direction of a staircase that led toward the ballroom where the dinner was taking place, with a Secret Service agent firing at him five times, none of which hit the assailant.
The memo details his thoughts as he traveled from California to Washington DC to commit the shooting, which he documented on his phone, messages to his employer, friends and relatives prior to the shooting, and his manifesto detailing plans to carry out the shooting.
“The defendant signed his letter ‘Cole “coldForce” “Friendly Federal Assassin” Allen,’ and at the end of the letter described how he felt ‘awful’ about what he was about to do, but that he ‘experience[d] rage thinking about everything this administration has done,'” the memo notes. “His final words were: ‘Can’t really recommend it! Stay in school, kids.'”
Allen faces three federal charges including discharging a firearm during a crime, interstate transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony, and attempting to assassinate the President of the United States, which carries a life sentence if convicted.
See the full pretrial detention memo below:
