From left, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., and FBI Director Kash Patel conduct a news conference at the Department of Justice about Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooting, on Monday, April 27, 2026.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Sunday that the alleged White House Correspondents’ Association dinner shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, shot a Secret Service agent as he attempted to storm the Washington Hilton ballroom last weekend.
Pirro, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said new ballistics evidence showed the agent’s protective vest contained a buckshot pellet from the Mossberg pump action shotgun Allen allegedly carried on the night of the shooting.
Allen has been charged by federal prosecutors with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump in the shooting that left one Secret Service agent shot but uninjured. Prosecutors have also charged Allen with the discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, but until Pirro’s comments, law enforcement officials had not disclosed whose bullet hit the agent.
“It is definitively his bullet,” Pirro said. “He had every intention to kill him and anyone who got in his way on his way to killing the president of the United States.”
It’s so far unclear if the determination that Allen was allegedly the person who shot the agent will result in any additional charges. Prosecutors have warned that more charges may be filed in the case.
The shooting at the annual press dinner — which Trump, Vice President JD Vance and many high-ranking administration officials were attending — marked the third attempt on the president’s life since 2024.
Allen, 31, of California, has been held in custody since the night of the shooting. He waived his right to challenge his detention on Thursday.
A video still showing Cole Tomas Allen running through security at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Courtesy: USAttyPirro
On Saturday, however, Allen’s attorneys in a court filing asked the court to remove him from any suicide precautions while he is imprisoned.
Allen’s lawyers said they “have not seen, and therefore do not argue, that there is expressed
intent to punish Mr. Allen.”
“Nevertheless, his placement on suicide precautions amounts to punishment where, as here, he has exhibited no indications of suicidality,” they wrote.
They contended his placement on “suicide watch and suicide precautions amount to violations of his rights under the Due Process Clause to the U.S. Constitution.”
Allen’s attorneys said he was assessed on May 1, and a jail nurse determined he should be removed from suicide watch and suicide precautions protocols. They reported that he was still on suicide precautions during a visit that day, and that they believe he is still under such precautions.
The defense said Allen’s presence on suicide precautions limits his ability to mount a defense and deprives him of his due process rights. A person held in suicide watch or precautionary protocols “is not permitted to interact with others inside the facility, receive visits, make phone calls, or access commissary or resources such as the law library or jail tablets.”
“Continued housing under suicide precautions is unnecessary and violates Mr. Allen’s due process rights by depriving him of dignity and access to resources inside the jail,” they wrote.
