The authorities say the California man stormed a black-tie gala on Saturday seeking to kill the president.
A California man who the authorities say ran through a security perimeter and fired a gun outside a packed black-tie gala in Washington on Saturday was charged on Monday with trying to assassinate President Trump.
Prosecutors said the man, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., came to the nation’s capitol with the intention of carrying out a political assassination. He brought a pump-action shotgun, a .38-caliber handgun and three knives, officials said.
Mr. Allen appeared briefly in federal court in Washington on Monday, wearing a neon blue jumpsuit. He did not enter a plea and is likely to remain behind bars indefinitely. A magistrate judge scheduled a detention hearing in the case for Thursday.
Mr. Allen’s sudden sprint past a security checkpoint while carrying deadly weapons created a harrowing security incident for the more than 2,000 people attending the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner at the Washington Hilton. The episode renewed questions about political violence and the security measures necessary to protect a president who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts.
In a federal affidavit unsealed on Monday, an F.B.I. agent said that around 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, Mr. Allen approached a security checkpoint inside the hotel, where Mr. Trump, Vice President JD Vance and members of the cabinet were attending the dinner in the ballroom one floor below.
Mr. Allen ran through a magnetometer holding a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, and Secret Service agents “heard a loud gunshot,” the affidavit stated. One agent was shot in the chest but was wearing a bulletproof vest, according to the affidavit, which did not say that it was Mr. Allen who shot the agent.