Shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner

[Yazata]

The White House Correspondents Dinner is a very swanky (tuxedos and evening gowns) self-congraulatory gathering of the journalists accredited to the White House. This year it was held in the DC Hilton Hotel.

Historically Presidents have attended and they and the press engaged in good natured jokes and sparring. But things have grown so hostile between President Trump and much of the mainstream media, that he didn't attend last year. But this year President Trump and the always elegant Melania attended and so did all kinds of government officials like Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio and the Speaker of the House.

Well, after everyone was seated but before the event really began, a young man with a shotgun, a handgun and several knives sprinted past the metal detector checkpoint at the entrance to the hotel, but outside the ballroom. A uniformed Secret Service officer tried to intercept him and the intruder shot the officer. Other officers pulled their weapons and got off several shots, but didn't strike the individual, who was finally tackled by more Secret Service agents and handcuffed.

The Secret Service immediately hustled President Trump, Vice President Vance and the others out of the ballroom and all the guests (mostly prominent reporters) were told to get down and shelter under their tables. When it was clear that there were no more attackers, the ballroom was evacuated.

The attacker has been identified as 31 year old Cole Thomas Allen of Torrance California. Not a whole lot is known about him. He apparently worked as a teacher in a private tutoring service of some kind. His motive for attacking the dinner are unknown at this time. (But given President Trump's presence at the event, it isn't hard to guess.) He did make a $25 donation to Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, but he has almost zero presence on X.

The Secret Service Officer who was shot was wearing a body armor vest and reportedly is in good condition.

Right now, the FBI and local police are swarming the address linked to Cole Allen in Torrance CA.

[Syne]

Really sad to see a video of Erica Kirk leaving the event, crying and saying she just wanted to go home. That has to be way too similar to the tragedy she's already suffered.

[Yazata]

I've been watching the live stream from Torrance. An hour ago the street was filled with police vehicles with lights flashing, including armored SWAT vehicles and FBI agents in military style gear. There was even a helicopter overhead.

But just the last few minutes it looks like all the FBI agents have left. A few local police remain, still manning a perimeter, to keep the hordes of LA reporters and curious away from the house where Allen was living. Heavy thundershowers and the late hour are thinning out the crowds.

The neighborhood looks middle class, reasonably nice homes. Multi-racial, not rich.

[Zinjanthropos]

It’s like trying to kill Inspector Clouseau, you’re the one who gets killed (at least captured).

How many loose nuts are there running around with guns? Any chance Iranian/Arab money behind the attempt?

[C C]

Tig Halladay (satire): "So as bright as Cole Tomas Allen was, that was no immunity against AMAZED (Anti-MAGA Anti-Zionist Emotional Disorder), the pejorative thought-virus that Trump supporters venomously peddle. In fact, the bogus concoction entails intellectual non-elites (in terms of insufficient money and authority or power position) being the most susceptible to it."
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2026 White House Correspondents' dinner shooting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_White...ng#Suspect

EXCERPT: Family members who were interviewed by investigators said that Allen "made radical statements and that he constantly referenced a plan to do "something" to fix the issues with today's world", that he part of a group called "The Wide Awakes", attended No Kings protests in California, and would regularly go to a shooting range to train with firearms.

The Wide Awakes reboot
https://x.com/chiIIum/status/2048415426346905746

EXCERPT: In 2020, during COVID-19 “artists, activists, and creatives” (including figures like Hank Willis Thomas and Black Thought) revived the name The Wide Awakes as an “open-source” network for “artistic sovereignty, joy as resistance, liberation, and creative collaboration.” They adopted capes symbolically and emphasized themes of awakening —drawing parallels to the original, though adapted to progressive causes.

Wide Awakes legacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Awakes#Legacy

EXCERPT: Black Thought, who helped spearhead these " "remixed' " Wide Awakes, told The New York Times that, " 'throughout history, it's been the young people and creatives and intellectuals and philosophers and — just the visionaries — who understood the power in uniting, and who contributed to the greatest progress. So what the Wide Awakes represent, in my mind, is that.'

[Magical Realist]

Such a disappointment...

[C C]

Nothing much new, just more refinements of being speciously infected with AMAZED and being a member of The Wide Awakes. Willing to shoot bystanders, too, but only if necessary.
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https://scallywagandvagabond.com/2026/04...de-awakes/

EXCERPTS: Cole Allen, WHCD gunman wanted to fix everything wrong with the world according to recovered handwritten notes at the hotel, along with sending family members Anti-Trump manifesto, titled, ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ 10 minutes before shooting. Gunman regularly went to the shooting range to train with his guns and was part of a group called ‘The Wide Awakes’.

[...] Sample statements Cole is alleged to have shared included, ‘Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person r*ped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial,’ Allen, 31, allegedly wrote in the document, which a relative provided to police, a US official said according to the nypost.

‘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.’

Officials also said Allen’s social media included anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house...MSF0951a18

EXCERPTS: The White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting suspect wrote a "manifesto" which stated he wanted to specifically target administration officials, law enforcement and White House officials told CBS News. Authorities also found anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on the suspect's social media accounts, the official said.

[...] In excerpts reviewed by CBS News, Allen wrote that he planned to target administration officials, "prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest," and authorities "only if necessary." He said hotel employees and guests weren't his intended targets but that he would still attack them to get to the administration, adding: "I really hope it doesn't come to that."