An attendee of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner who was outside the ballroom when a gunman ran through a security checkpoint Saturday night said the suspect “fell right at my feet” before he was arrested.
“I would not have had to take a step forward to touch him,” Air Force veteran Erin Thielman said. “I could’ve just bent down to touch him.”
Thielman said she stepped out of the ballroom at the Washington Hilton to call her son as the suspect, Cole Allen, rushed toward the event.
Thielman sprang into action. She said she ran down the stairs and seeing that the doors to the ballroom were “wide open,” she began closing them.
“I was very concerned because we had the line of succession to our country in the ballroom, and I didn’t know what they knew,” she said.
President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other top Trump administration officials were in attendance at the annual gala, which hosted 2,500 guests.
Court documents say Allen wasn’t tackled by security as initially believed. During a press conference on Monday held by the Department of Justice, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Allen “was not shot but fell to the ground and was promptly arrested.”
Officials said Allen was carrying a shotgun, pistol and a variety of knives. A federal affidavit cited a document Allen allegedly emailed to family minutes before the shooting titled “Apology and explanation,” which expressed his intent to target “administration officials prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”
Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate the president. He also faces two firearms-related charges. He made his first court appearance on Monday, but did not enter a plea.
