New footage shows how Trump dinner gunman charged through security in four seconds

BBC reports on newly released CCTV footage showing Cole Tomas Allen, 31, charging through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton in approximately four seconds while carrying a shotgun during a White House Correspondents' Association dinner attended by President Trump on Saturday. A Secret Service officer opened fire at the suspect, who allegedly fired his shotgun toward the ballroom stairs; Allen was apprehended after falling near a magnetometer. The reporting draws on official sources including the US Attorney for Washington DC, Secret Service statements, and court filings, though some evidentiary details remain contested—defense lawyers have questioned whether Allen actually discharged his weapon, and prosecutors' accounts have shifted slightly between charging documents and subsequent court filings regarding whether the officer was struck by the suspect's fire or friendly fire. Corroborating coverage from The Washington Post and The Guardian independently confirms the core narrative: surveillance footage, prosecutors' motions for pretrial detention, and emerging details about Allen's presence at the hotel the day prior. Watch for developments in the pretrial detention hearing and potential clarification from ballistics analysis on the friendly-fire question, which remains unresolved despite official statements from Secret Service leadership.