New Assault Count Added To Charges For Accused White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooter

WASHINGTON, DC — Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of trying to kill President Donald Trump and others at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April, was indicted May 5 on a new charge of assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon.

The initial complaint charged him with attempting to assassinate the president and two firearms violations.

A Washington, DC, grand jury returned the four-count indictment. Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for the attempted assassination charge alone.

The attack occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on the night of April 25. Allen is accused of running through a security checkpoint in the hotel armed with guns and knives in an attempt to assassinate Trump and other members of the administration. A Secret Service officer was shot once, but the bullet was stopped by a bullet-proof vest, authorities say. The officer fired back five times without hitting anyone, they say.

There had been some question about who fired the shot that hit the Secret Service agent. Prosecutors now say Allen fired it with a pump-action shotgun.

Allen’s attorneys question that assertion and say the government’s case “is based upon inferences drawn about Mr. Allen's intent that raise more questions than answers."

Allen was injured in the attack and placed on suicide watch for some time after his arrest, but that watch was lifted recently.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.