Agencies
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that initial investigations into the shooting incident that occurred during the press dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel in Washington indicate that the suspect was targeting high-ranking officials within the US administration.
The official explained in media statements to CBS that the initial data indicates that the suspected perpetrator, Cole Allen (31 years old), was planning to target members of the government, without providing further details about the nature of the potential targets. Blanche revealed in another statement to CNN that the suspect is not actively cooperating with investigators, adding that investigations indicate that he traveled to Washington, D.C. by train from Los Angeles via Chicago, as part of a journey whose details are still under security review. According to initial data, the suspect registered his entry to the Washington Hilton hotel on Friday, which is the same place where the incident occurred, while no information has been recorded so far indicating that he was known to the security services before the attack. The authorities indicated that the suspect had a pump-action shotgun, a pistol, and several bladed weapons in his possession, with the likelihood that he legally acquired the firearms during the last two years, while the motives and goals of the attack are still not definitively determined. The incident occurred a few minutes before the start of the White House correspondents' dinner, where the sound of gunfire was heard outside the celebration hall, which caused a state of widespread chaos that prompted the security services to intervene quickly and evacuate US President Donald Trump and his escorts urgently. Trump later confirmed that a Secret Service agent was injured during the incident, but he survived thanks to wearing a bulletproof vest, while investigations are still ongoing to reveal all the circumstances of the attack. It is worth noting that the White House correspondents' dinner is organized annually in Washington, D.C., and brings together journalists, politicians, and public figures, and its proceeds go to fund scholarships and programs to support press freedom, before it was canceled this year after the incident, with the possibility of its re-organization later.
