A selfie taken by Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter, will send a chill down your spine.
Prosecutors released the image, depicting Allen smirking in the mirror while wearing a dress shirt and red tie, which was reportedly taken about half an hour before the attack on the dinner. Observers can also notice that he was strapped with multiple knives, which were taken into evidence following his arrest.
Look:
BREAKING: A photo of suspect Cole Allen in his hotel room prior to the assassination attempt at the WHCD.
: @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/uRMxbHDwgB
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 29, 2026
Additional images, published by Fox News, show just how many weapons Allen allegedly had, including a handgun, a shotgun, and the aforementioned blades.
Look:
Newly released DOJ photos show Cole Allen allegedly brought a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and multiple knives to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner during an attempted assassination of President Trump and other officials.… pic.twitter.com/JqU3OybeNG
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 28, 2026
“Newly released DOJ photos show Cole Allen allegedly brought a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, a .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol, and multiple knives to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner during an attempted assassination of President Trump and other officials,” the outlet reported in an X post. “The images depict the firearms, several knives — including a large fixed blade — and additional gear recovered from Allen. Allen has been federally charged with attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, transporting firearms across state lines, and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.”
In a motion for pretrial detention, prosecutors laid out their case for keeping Allen behind bars, outlining how many internet searches he allegedly made related to President Donald Trump and the WHCD.
“At approximately 8:03 p.m., while back inside his hotel room, the defendant used his cellphone to take a photograph of himself in the mirror,” the document reads.
“The defendant’s prescheduled emails with the ‘Apology and Explanation’ attachment were sent a few minutes later, at approximately 8:30 p.m. Shortly thereafter, the defendant rushed the screening checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a raised shotgun,” it adds.
“Had the defendant achieved his intended outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history. The defendant traveled across the country with the explicit aim to kill the President of the United States,” prosecutors argue. “The defendant, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38 caliber pistol, two knives, four daggers, and enough ammunition to take dozens of lives, was apprehended by USSS officers mere feet away from the ballroom where his primary target was located, along with other members of the Cabinet. This was a planned attack of unfathomable malice that risked the lives of hundreds of people whose only transgression was attending an annual event celebrating the media and featuring the President of the United States. It was, at its core, an anti-democratic act of political violence.”
