{"id":124909,"date":"2026-04-27T19:40:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=124909"},"modified":"2026-04-27T19:40:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:40:37","slug":"suspect-in-shooting-at-trumps-press-dinner-to-appear-in-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124909\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect in shooting at Trump&#8217;s press dinner to appear in court"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web Desk(National Times)- A California man accused of storming a gala dinner attended by President Donald Trump was to appear in court on Monday over a shooting that marks the latest spasm of political violence in deeply divided America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Administration officials said the suspect in Saturday night\u2019s shocking attack apparently&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1995174\">aimed<\/a>&nbsp;to kill Trump and senior officials at the press dinner in a Washington hotel, in what would be the third attempt on the president\u2019s life in two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump, who was rushed out of the ballroom in Washington by Secret Service agents, posted surveillance footage of the gunman attempting to sprint past a checkpoint one floor above the room where the dinner was held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a brief exchange of gunfire with agents, the suspect was detained at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump shared photos of the suspect handcuffed on the carpeted hotel floor, lying shirtless and face down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an interview aired on Sunday night on the&nbsp;<em>CBS<\/em>&nbsp;programme \u201c60 Minutes\u201d, Trump was asked if he feared there would be casualties as the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1995212\">chaotic scene<\/a>&nbsp;unfolded before him: Washington\u2019s government and media elite in formal attire ducking for cover at a fancy dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t worried. I understand life. We live in a crazy world,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s not actively cooperating. I expect that he will be formally charged tomorrow morning in federal court in Washington,\u201d acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche told&nbsp;<em>CBS<\/em>\u2019s \u201cFace The Nation\u201d earlier in the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe do believe, based upon just a very preliminary start to understanding what happened, that he was targeting members of the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blanche added that no further motive was known for the attack, and confirmed the suspect \u2014 who officials said was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives \u2014 was staying at the Washington Hilton hotel where the black-tie White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner was held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1995465\/suspect-in-shooting-at-trumps-press-dinner-to-appear-in-court#guests-hid-under-tables\"><\/a>Guests hid under tables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump, without providing details, said the gunman had written an \u201canti-Christian\u201d manifesto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe guy is a sick guy,\u201d Trump told&nbsp;<em>Fox News<\/em>. \u201cHis sister or his brother actually was complaining about it. They were even complaining to law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The New York Post<\/em>&nbsp;said the suspect, widely named as&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1995224\/who-is-cole-allen-suspect-in-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting\">Cole Allen<\/a>, 31, had written in a message shared with his family shortly before the attack that his targets would be \u201cprioritised from highest-ranking to lowest\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the seconds after the shooting on a floor above, Secret Service agents swarmed into the ballroom, prompting chaotic scenes as attendees dove under tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Crowded into the ballroom were Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, several cabinet members and top lawmakers, and hundreds of guests in black tie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump said at a hastily arranged late-night news conference at the White House that he first thought the noise was a tray being dropped, before realising it was gunfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he hoped the annual gala, hosted by the White House Correspondents Association, would be rescheduled within a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey seem to think he was a lone wolf, and I feel that too,\u201d the president said. One officer was shot at close range in his safety vest and appeared to be not seriously harmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump added that the hotel venue was \u201cnot a particularly secure\u201d facility, as questions swirled about the president\u2019s safety protocols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1995465\/suspect-in-shooting-at-trumps-press-dinner-to-appear-in-court#multiple-attempts-on-trumps-life\"><\/a>Multiple attempts on Trump\u2019s life<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump was the target of an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1845712\">assassination attempt<\/a>&nbsp;during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024. A gunman fired several shots, killing an audience member and lightly wounding the president in the ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few months later, another man was arrested after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of a rifle poking from the bushes on the perimeter of the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing a round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Washington Hilton, where Saturday\u2019s gala was taking place, is the site where Republican President Ronald Reagan was shot by a would-be assassin in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump on Sunday said the shooting underlined the security reasons that he has cited for planning a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1990914\">huge new ballroom<\/a>&nbsp;next to the White House, a project that has faced legal challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The White House Correspondents\u2019 Association invited Trump to its gala this year despite his repeated attacks on the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before this year and unlike all other presidents from the past 100 years, Trump had never attended while in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The dinner brings together journalists and the who\u2019s who of Washington to raise funds for scholarships and awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The incident came less than 48 hours before King Charles III and Queen Camilla&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1991924\">begin<\/a>&nbsp;a four-day state visit to Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web Desk(National Times)- A California man accused of storming a gala dinner attended by President Donald Trump was to appear in court on Monday over a shooting that marks the latest spasm of political violence in deeply divided America. Administration officials said the suspect in Saturday night\u2019s shocking attack apparently&nbsp;aimed&nbsp;to kill Trump and senior officials [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suspect in shooting at Trump&#039;s press dinner to appear in court - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/124909\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suspect in shooting at Trump&#039;s press dinner to appear in court - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web Desk(National Times)- A California man accused of storming a gala dinner attended by President Donald Trump was to appear in court on Monday over a shooting that marks the latest spasm of political violence in deeply divided America. 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