Security Threat at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Watch / listen to the report and answer the questions below.
- What happened at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner?
- Who was Cole Thomas Allen, and where did he come from?
- What weapons was the suspect carrying when he was stopped?
- Why did Trump describe the suspect as a “sick guy”?
- What did the retired FBI agent say about the security level?
- How is hotel security different from airport security?
▼ Script — Click to expand
The suspected gunman who tried to storm an event that President Trump was attending in Washington over the weekend will appear in court later today. These were the chaotic scenes inside the ballroom a little over 24 hours ago. President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and senior cabinet figures had gathered with hundreds of journalists for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Well, the suspect has been named as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen. He was detained by security agents at the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was being held. The acting US Attorney General has said the President and his officials were the likely targets. Our North America correspondent Peter Bowes reports.
Pandemonium in a ballroom packed with America’s most powerful politicians. For the third time in two years, a gunman managed to get close to the President. Donald Trump was bundled off stage along with his wife Melania and the Vice President, J.D. Vance. The room was full of journalists for the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. They had to hide under the tables as members of the Secret Service stormed in when gunshots were heard near the entrance.
Surveillance cameras caught the moment the suspect tried to break through security. Police say the attacker was carrying two guns as well as knives. The authorities have said it’s likely Mr. Trump and his officials were the intended victims.
Donald Trump
“I don’t know. It sounded to me, I read a manifesto. He’s radicalized. He was a Christian believer and then he became an anti-Christian and he had a lot of change. He’s been going through a lot based on what he wrote. His brother complained about him and I think reported him to the police and his sister likewise complained about him. His family was very concerned. He was probably a pretty sick guy.”
The suspect, Cole Thomas Allen, traveled to Washington by train from his home almost 3,000 miles away in a suburb of Los Angeles, where the FBI have been going door-to-door looking for evidence. A computer science graduate, he describes himself online as a mechanical engineer, game developer, and teacher. Cole Thomas Allen is accused of assaulting a federal officer and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
The attack has highlighted what many see as a growing problem in America, politically motivated violence. In a country all too familiar with the scourge of gun violence, an attack at the very heart of American government, witnessed by many of the nation’s most prominent journalists, has sent shockwaves through the capital. Peter Bowes, BBC News, Washington.
Let’s speak to retired FBI special agent Daniel Brunner.
Daniel Brunner — Retired FBI Special Agent
“I think that a lot of people are talking about this as a security failure, but I think this is a security success. Secret Service, both the Uniform Division and the special agents along with Metro PD, conducted a very safe event. The individual was taken into custody without having been shot. He was tackled by other agents. He still had two flights down to go to the main ballroom and still sealed doors. He was not anywhere near the ballroom when the shots were fired.”
“As we all know, when we check into large hotels, like the Hilton and like other hotels around the world, there’s a large amount of people that come in and out of that hotel at all times. That security lockdown really only happens on the day of the event. Not every single person who checks into that hotel one day, two days, three days before — you can’t search every single one of those persons’ suitcases. If this individual had broken down his weapons and had packed them into a suitcase, he would look just like any other person checking into the hotel.”
“Every person that is going into that ballroom gets magnetometers. Every person that was approaching that ballroom gets magnetometers, just like we’re doing at the airport.”