White House press dinner shooting raises questions over security at event

Secret Service agents responding to shooting incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenSecret Service agents responding to shooting incident at the White House correspondents’ dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesWhite House correspondents' dinner shootingWhite House press dinner shooting raises questions over security at eventSecret Service director says security succeeded in stopping shooter before he could do further harm but others disagreeEdward HelmoreMon 27 Apr 2026 06.00 EDTLast modified on Mon 27 Apr 2026 12.58 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleThe shooting at the White House correspondents’ gala has prompted questions over security, with some asking how a shooter was able to get close to where Donald Trump and many other senior administration officials were gathered and many others praising the actions of law enforcement officers that swiftly stopped the attack.As details about the shooting at the Washington Hilton continued to surface, the alleged shooter, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, mocked an “insane” lack of security at the Washington dinner in a manifesto reportedly sent to his family 10 minutes before his assault started.“I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,” the suspect said in the alleged manifesto first obtained by the New York Post, and which expressed hostility to Trump and his administration.Allen, a Caltech-graduate, said “this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again,” he wrote.The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration actually provided a lower level of security for the dinner than it has done in many other meetings of top officials, despite the president attending along with several members of his cabinet. In such cases the Secret Service are often given oversight of all security and the event designated a “national specialsecurity event”, which did not happen on Saturday, the paper reported, citing local and federal officials.DoJ pressures group to drop lawsuit against Trump’s ballroom after gala shootingRead moreConcerned Republican lawmakers have floated the creation of a House committee to investigate the shooting and security around the event, Politico reported on Monday, citing three anonymous sources. The outlet said the House oversight and homeland security committees, and the Senate judiciary committee, had requested briefings from the Secret Service.“There needs to be wholesale change,” Mike Lawler, a Republican New York congressman who was at the dinner, told Politico. “This nutjob could have walked into any of the other events before the dinner and caused mass casualties.”The acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, earlier confirmed to NBC’s Meet the Press that law enforcement officials believe the suspect was targeting administration officials “likely including the president” based on a preliminary assessment.9:28‘Sense of disbelief’: how the White House press dinner attack unfolded - The LatestThe attack came less that two years since Trump was the target of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a subsequent attempt at a golf course in Florida.Sean Curran, the Secret Service director, insisted late on Saturday that security measures in place at…

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