A Secret Service officer’s life was saved after his mobile phone blocked a bullet during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The officer, whose identity remains undisclosed, was released from the hospital today after the frightening incident at the Washington Hilton.
Video footage captured the moment a gunman entered a Secret Service screening area in the hotel lobby and fired a shot, which hit a Secret Service agent’s bulletproof vest. A law enforcement report revealed that the officer’s mobile phone played a role in stopping the bullet.
The suspect, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, was apprehended after shots were fired outside a ballroom where prominent figures, including Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and JD Vance, were attending the annual dinner. President Trump referred to the suspect as a “lone wolf whack job” following the incident at the Washington Hilton hotel.
Allen was found carrying a 12-gauge shotgun, a .38-caliber handgun, and multiple knives. An “anti-Christian” manifesto sent to his family members before the attack indicated his intentions to target administration officials, with the President among those on his list.
Having graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering, Allen was a member of the university’s Christian fellowship and NERF club. NERF guns, popular among children and adults, were a part of Allen’s student activities.
Allen is set to appear in federal court on Monday, facing charges such as assault on a federal officer, discharging a firearm, and potentially attempted assassination.
