White House Correspondents’ dinner shooting suspect hit with terrorism charge

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – The suspect in the shooting during April’s White House Correspondents' Dinner faces an additional charge: attempted terrorism.

The latest charges bring a total of five criminal counts against Cole Tomas Allen, 31, including a first-degree charge for attempting to kill the president.

The latest charge in the April 25 shooting at the Washington Hilton was unsealed Friday in the U.S. District Court and announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

“The superseding indictment adds one count of act of terrorism while armed (for the attempted first-degree murder of the President of the United States) in violation of the D.C. criminal code. The maximum penalty Allen faces is life imprisonment,” according to an announcement from the Justice Department.

In addition to terrorism and attempt to assassinate the president, Cole was also charged with “assaulting an officer or employee of the U.S. with a deadly weapon,” the transportation of a firearm and ammunition “in interstate commerce with the intent to commit a felony,” and the discharging of a firearm as part of a crime.  

Cole is scheduled to stand trial in Washington, D.C., in September 2027, and could face life in prison if found guilty.