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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The White House Correspondents’ Dinner quickly devolved into chaos Saturday as shots rang out inside the Washington, D.C., hotel hosting the annual gala while President Donald Trump was in attendance. 

The suspect has been identified as Cole Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., with law enforcement adding that he prepared a manifesto and shared posts to social media outlining his intent to target Trump and other administration officials, according to authorities. 

Allen’s sister, Avriana Allen, told Secret Service and Montgomery County Police that her brother had a history of making radical statements and previously mentioned a plan to do “something” to fix what he believed to be issues with today’s society, authorities said. 

WHCD SHOOTING SUSPECT PLANNED TO TARGET TRUMP OFFICIALS, MANIFESTO REVEALS

Allen allegedly stormed the Washington Hilton’s lobby while armed with weapons within minutes of the event kicking off, and was quickly apprehended by members of the Secret Service.

He is currently in custody and authorities are expected to file federal charges against him Monday. 

Here is a timeline of events leading up to the shooting: 

October 2023: 

Allen legally purchases a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol, according to the Associated Press. He purchased a 12-gauge shotgun two years later. 

WATCH: Suspect went from ‘nerdy geek’ to attempted attacker: Asra Nomani

His sister told authorities the weapons were purchased from Cap Tactical Firearms and stored in their parents’ home, who were unaware of the guns being kept there.

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER SUSPECT CHECKED INTO HILTON HOTEL ONE DAY BEFORE THE SHOOTING: SOURCES

She also revealed her brother was a regular visitor to the shooting range, was a member of a group called “The Wide Awakes” and had previously attended a “No Kings” protest in California. 

Mid-April 2026: 

Allen allegedly travels by train from California to Washington, D.C., making one stop in Chicago, according to authorities. 

Friday, April 24

Allen checks into the Washington Hilton one day before the April 25 gala dinner, sources told Fox News.

Saturday, April 25, 8 p.m.

The 2026 White House Correspondents’ Dinner begins, with Trump taking his seat alongside Vice President J.D. Vance and first lady Melania Trump. Several other administration officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and House Speaker Mike Johnson, are also in attendance. 

WATCH: Trey Yingst reports live from WHCD during shooting

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Before the shooting, Allen allegedly sends a written manifesto outlining his intent to target Trump administration officials to members of his family, according to law enforcement sources. 

Saturday, April 25, 8:30 p.m.

Shots ring out on the hotel’s terrace level, one floor below the hotel lobby and one floor above the International Ballroom, where hundreds of journalists and cabinet officials were enjoying the start of the program. 

According to authorities, Allen charged through a security checkpoint in the hotel’s lobby area armed with firearms and knives, striking one officer in his ballistic vest.

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Allen is intercepted by members of the Secret Service as they return fire and tackle him to the ground. 

Within seconds, Trump and other high-level members of the federal government are rushed to safety by the Secret Service, as journalists and other attendees take shelter under tables in the ballroom.

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The officer who was struck is later transported to a local hospital and is expected to survive.

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Saturday, April 25, 9:17 p.m.

Trump makes his first comments after the shooting on Truth Social, commending officers for acting “quickly and bravely.” Trump also added that “the shooter has been apprehended,” and that he had recommended the event resume.

WATCH: WHCD shooting appears to be third incident targeting Trump

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Saturday, April 25, 9:36 p.m.

Trump makes a second post to Truth Social, revealing that law enforcement had asked attendees to evacuate the building, as was consistent with protocol. 

Saturday, April 25, 10:49 p.m.

After the shooting, Allen’s brother contacts the New London Police Department in Connecticut regarding his alleged manifesto. 

The police said in a statement they were contacted at 10:49 p.m. but someone who wanted to share information related to it, and the department said it then immediately alerted federal law enforcement, the Associated Press reported.

Sunday, April 26

Allen initially speaks with police before refusing to talk as of Sunday morning, according to authorities.

Authorities execute search warrants Sunday in Los Angeles and Washington, including at a hotel room where the suspect was staying, Blanche said. Investigators review devices and communications recovered during the searches.

Blanche added that it appears Allen bought the guns in “the past couple of years.”

“That could be another reason why he traveled by train because he had the firearms with him, but I’m speculating there,” he said.

Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom, Amanda Macias and CJ Womack contributed to this report.

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Newly unearthed video shows a different side of the gunman authorities say tried to blast his way into the press dinner to kill President Donald Trump.

In the decade-old video obtained by Fox News Digita, Cole Allen, now 31, presents his invention at an “Aging into the Future” conference co-sponsored by St. Barnabas Senior Services in Los Angeles. Surrounded by fellow innovators, he demonstrated a prototype emergency brake for wheelchairs — a device he assembled using basic PVC piping. The contraption was notably simple, engineering experts told Fox News Digital, and didn’t reflect particularly advanced mechanical engineering for a graduating senior at Caltech.

Still, the video provides a sharp contrast in the life of an angry radical accused of trying to barrel through the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue NW in a shocking assassination plot allegedly targeting Trump administration officials at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The video chronicles a very stark contrast to the portrait emerging from law enforcement interviews with Allen’s brother and sister and his own writings in a manifesto. 

Speaking about past assassination plots, Trump told Fox News on Sunday, “You know, these assassins, they seem to be high IQ people, but they’re crazy.”

The FBI has now identified Allen as the suspect in the shooting Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, with his brother reporting to law enforcement authorities that Allen’s manifesto detailed allegedly deadly plans at the weekend gathering for journalists and administration officials.

Trump told Fox News, “The guy is a sick guy. When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred.” 

Trump said his family raised alarm bells with law enforcement. 

“He was a very troubled guy,” he said, later also calling him “disturbed.”

According to law enforcement officials, Allen also descended into anti-Trump hate, attending at least one of the three “No Kings” protests organized over the past year by groups including Democratic-leading nonprofits, like Indivisible, MoveOn and American Federation of Teachers, and a network of socialist organizations, including the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition, funded by an American tech tycoon, Neville Roy Singham, living in Shanghai.

WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER SUSPECT CHECKED INTO HILTON HOTEL ONE DAY BEFORE THE SHOOTING: SOURCES

Almost a decade ago, Allen appeared to have very different priorities. 

In a news segment published in March 2017 by WABC in Los Angeles, Allen appears as a disciplined student at the California Institute of Technology, an elite institution known for admitting students with near-perfect test scores and training top-tier engineers and scientists.

Speaking in a flat, measured tone, Allen walked a reporter through the mechanics of his device, explaining how it could stabilize a wheelchair and prevent it from skidding. “The wheelchair brakes tend to lock the wheels but don’t actually lock the chair to the ground,” he explained.

WHO IS COLE ALLEN? CALIFORNIA MAN NAMED AS SUSPECT IN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ DINNER SHOOTING

Kneeling beside the wheels of a wheelchair and fiddling with an assembly of QVC pipes between the wheels, he continued, “The deal with this is to prevent it from moving at all.”

A year later, Allen earned a mechanical engineering degree. While in college, he completed a competitive summer research fellowship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, contributing to astrophysics work, according to his LInkedIn profile. He also developed complex technical projects, including a physics-based role-playing shooter game called “First Law,” as well as robotic systems and later another intricate game, “Bohrdom,” released on the Steam platform. Gaming experts said his “Bohrdom” game was very basic in its technical level.

After Caltech, Allen held down a job for only about a year before starting work as a tutor with C2 Education in 2020 and going on to earn a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2025. C2 Education recognized Allen a “teacher of the month” in late 2024, according to a social media post.

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Records also show a small political donation during the 2024 election cycle to the Kamala Harris presidential race.

Allen now faces federal charges including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer, with additional charges expected.

Jesse Watson contributed to this report.

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A Wisconsin family is reeling after a judge vacated the conviction of a man previously found guilty in the once-cold case of a mother killed in an execution-style shooting.

Miguel Cruz was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 stemming from the killing of Juanita Zdroik, 39, in Racine County in 2000. 

The case began on Feb. 7, 2000, when the mother of three was hauled to a rural highway and shot execution-style after witnessing a double homicide in Milwaukee. 

Authorities launched a desperate search for her killer, but the case ultimately ran cold until a suspect – identified as Cruz – was arrested in 2017.

PARTY PREP TALE FALLS APART AS HUSBAND CHARGED IN WIFE’S DECADES-OLD COLD CASE MURDER

“One day I got a call while at work, and they said they caught my mother’s murderer,” Zach Zdroik, Juanita’s son who was 13 years old at the time of her death, told Fox News Digital. 

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“I felt extreme relief that the man responsible for my mother’s murder, and ultimately for a lifetime of pain for my sister and I, is finally where he belongs,” Zdroik added. “It was very fulfilling for us.”

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However, after filing an appeal surrounding the credibility of DNA and a broader investigation into the members of the sheriff’s office’s conduct, Cruz was granted a new trial earlier this week. 

“It was obviously heartbreaking, knowing that we have to deal with this again,” Zdroik said. “We’ve been very understanding throughout this entire process that has been years with the county and the legal system, so the fact that we saw the system itself fail us as a family was pretty disheartening.”

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Despite Cruz ultimately winning his chance at appeal, the charges against him have not been dismissed – setting the stage for a second trial or, according to Zdroik, a potential plea deal. 

“Our voice doesn’t matter to the county or state at this point,” Zdroik told Fox News Digital. “Like, what are we doing here? A man that was proven to be there, multiple eyewitnesses saw him there and they testified against him, now that that is no good due to a corrupt history. But he’s gonna get off now and live a life that my mother wasn’t able to live. I mean, does that seem fair?”

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Zdroik added that officials have told him Cruz’s possible plea deal could result in a 10-year prison sentence, which holds the potential of Cruz being released after just six months behind bars. 

“Who knows what is possible, I mean, I know this murder took place years ago,” Zdroik said. “I don’t know if he’s done anything else in between now and then that he was arrested for, or even not arrested for, to get away with murder, so who knows.”

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However, no plea deal has been officially offered or agreed upon, according to Zdroik. 

The ordeal has been especially taxing on Zdroik and his family, including his two sisters and children.

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“[My mom] was the one person in this world that I knew always loved me,” Zdroik told Fox News Digital. “I’ve never had that love ever in my life, and I don’t think I’ll ever have it again. My mother was my world.” 

“We’ve all had to struggle,” Zdroik added. “And live our lives in darkness and sadness because of this.”

The Racine County Sheriff’s Office, Racine County District Attorney’s Office and Cruz’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Nine people were injured in a mass shooting near Indiana University early Sunday morning.

Police responded to reports of gunfire at a celebration after the “Little 500” college cycling race in the area just before 12:30 a.m., finding “multiple wounded individuals.” Nine people were taken to local hospitals, including six by ambulance, according to WHTR.

Authorities have not detailed the extent of the victims’ injuries.

Witnesses told the outlet that the gunfire resulted from an altercation between two women at the event.

ATTORNEYS FOR FAMILY OF FSU SHOOTING VICTIM CALL FOR TRANSPARENCY

“Two women fighting … I didn’t think too much of it,” a witness told WHTR. “I figured the police would get to it. But then I saw a girl reach toward her pants leg and start firing. By then, I was already running the other way.”

The Bloomington Police Department has yet to make any arrests in the case.

INDIANA JUDGE SHOOTING LEAVES ‘LONG LIST’ OF POTENTIAL SUSPECTS DAYS INTO MANHUNT: DEFENSE ATTORNEY

The incident comes just a week after police identified Shamar Elkins as the suspect in a domestic violence rampage that left eight children dead and two women shot in Louisiana last week.

Shreveport Police Department Corporal Christopher Bordelon released Elkins’ identity while speaking with reporters near the crime scene Sunday evening, calling the mass shooting a “heinous crime.”

Along with the children, Elkins is accused of shooting the mother of his children, who is expected to survive, as well as another woman who is suffering from life-threatening injuries. A teenage victim also sustained injuries considered non-life-threatening.

According to investigators, the suspect first shot a woman on Harrison Street before traveling to a residence on West 79th Street, where the murders happened.

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After fleeing, he allegedly carjacked a man at gunpoint near Linwood Avenue and West 79th Street before officers located the vehicle and initiated a pursuit.

The chase continued into Bossier Parish, where officers confronted the suspect and opened fire, killing him at the scene. Authorities said no officers were injured.

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Christine Dawood, the widow who lost her husband and son in the Titan Submersible disaster three years ago, said she remembers getting their remains back nine months after the implosion in two small boxes — like “shoeboxes.”

“We didn’t get the bodies for nine months,” Dawood told the Guardian in a story published on Saturday. “Well, when I say bodies, I mean the slush that was left. They came in two small boxes, like shoeboxes.”

She added that “There wasn’t much they could find” of Shahzada Dawood, 48, and their son, Suleman, 19, of London, after the implosion. 

“They have a big pile they can’t separate, all mixed DNA, and they asked if I wanted some of that, too. But I said no, just what you know is Suleman and Shahzada.”

Shahzada and Suleman were killed along with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, businessman Hamish Harding and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, when the submersible imploded as it descended toward the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic Ocean on June 18, 2023.

OCEANGATE TITAN SUBMERSIBLE DAMAGED ON MULTIPLE DIVES BEFORE CATASTROPHIC IMPLOSION, NTSB REPORT FINDS

Dawood told the Guardian she remembers the last time she saw her husband and son that morning they got in the submersible as she battled seasickness aboard the ship that took them out to where they descended.

“Suleman had his Rubik’s Cube, because he was planning to get the record for solving it at the deepest depth ever,” she remembered. “And we were giggling, because Shahzada is clumsy and when he was going down the stairs he was wobbling a bit. I waved. And that was it. They got into a dinghy and sped off. It went very fast, the goodbye.”

A few hours later in the ship’s dining room, Dawood heard someone say: “They’ve lost communications.”

When they realized she overheard, the person added: “’Don’t worry, it’s not unusual.’ In that moment, what am I supposed to do? I felt trapped on that ship and I had no choice but to trust what they told me.”

She said she tried to keep her anxiety at bay, telling herself, “they were stuck” in the submersible. 

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“But I was worried. Suleman is not … well, both my men, they’re not very good at being in the dark, and I knew it would be a very different darkness down there. Nothing. You literally can’t see a thing,” she said.

She said everyone on the ship was in complete denial.

“The crew were [acting] like nothing was happening,” she said, saying the crew suggested it would just take time for the crew to be found unharmed.

“It did cross my mind that OceanGate had ulterior motivations about what they told us,” she added. “They were just trying to avoid the truth. But I would have deteriorated a lot quicker without hope.”

As they waited, she said the crew scheduled jamming sessions and movies to pass the time.

AMERICAN COUPLE’S BAHAMAS DINGHY WAS ILL-EQUIPPED FOR CONDITIONS NIGHT OF WIFE’S DISAPPEARANCE: FRIEND

“Ultimately, I think they wanted to distract people, keep everyone occupied,” she said. “They wanted everyone onside, not to feed anything to the press. But jamming sessions? Am I really going to sit there and sing Kumbaya? I did try to give a movie a go, but when I got there it felt like an act of betrayal. Watching ‘Wayne’s World’ while they are trapped in the dark did not sit well with me.”

After an extensive search, the remains of the submersible were found on the ocean floor.

The U.S. Coast Guard called it a “catastrophic implosion.”

“My first thought was, thank God,” Dawood said. “When they said catastrophic, I knew Shahzada and Suleman didn’t even know about it. One moment they were there and the next they weren’t. Knowing they didn’t suffer has been so important. They’re gone, but the way they went does somehow make it easier.”

Once she knew they were gone, Dawood said she had to deal with the practical details.

“What was I going to do with their stuff?” she said. “Their bags? Shahzada’s clothes and things were in my cabin, so I packed his bags. But I didn’t pack Suleman’s. I couldn’t. Someone else did that.”

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Last year, the Coast Guard released a report, calling the implosion a “preventable tragedy,” blaming OceanGate’s culture of avoiding regulating and “negligence” on safety.

“From the beginning, I had a lot of reasons to hate Stockton, but does that really help me?” Dawood said. “He died with them. If I’m angry with him, I’m giving him power, and I refuse to do that. I’m sure people will say I’m naive, but if I start to analyse every single thing, where does that lead me? So, I choose my own … not happiness but … I choose me, every day. If I don’t, I wouldn’t be here. I would have killed myself, for sure.”

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She added that she tries to give her grief “attention.”

“So I go into Suleman’s room. Sometimes I find the cat sleeping on his pillow and I sit on the bed and let the grief come,” she admitted. “And after a while I can put the grief away until the next time it gets too much. I’ve worked a lot on my grief for Suleman, but I’m only now starting to grieve for my husband. Publicly they are always put together, but they are two different relationships. Two very different pains.”