U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro gestures towards images of weapons possessed by Cole Tomas Allen, the individual suspected in the shooting incident in Washington during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, during a press conference held at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, April 27, 2026. Kylie Cooper/Reuters
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro stated on Sunday that evidence suggests that pellets from a shotgun wielded by Cole Allen, the purported perpetrator of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner attack, were "entangled within the fabric" of a protective vest worn by a Secret Service agent who sustained injuries from gunfire in the assault.
"That specific bullet unequivocally struck that Secret Service agent," Pirro conveyed to CNN's "State of the Union." "He harbored the explicit intent to fatally wound him and others, en route to assassinating the president of the United States."
Pirro’s assertions exceed the extent of the ballistic evidence against Allen that prosecutors have thus far revealed to the public.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro points at pictures of weapons carried by Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting incident in Washington at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, April 27, 2026.Kylie Cooper/Reuters
Pirro also mentioned that Allen’s purported planning, as revealed by her office, corroborates this. She stated that further evidence, including additional video footage, will be made accessible at a later time.
In a court document filed last week, Allen’s legal representatives questioned the evidentiary basis the government is using to ascertain that he discharged his firearm. They have refrained from public discourse regarding the case, save for their submissions to the court.
Prosecutors have yet to disseminate evidence illustrating the outcomes of ballistic analyses performed on the shotgun, or identifying the specific object that impacted the Secret Service agent.
"As circumstances allow for greater transparency, we are more than willing to provide it," she remarked.
Prosecutors from her department will present their evidence to a grand jury with the goal of securing an indictment on May 8, she announced.
Allen, aged 31, is confronted with three felony charges: attempted assassination of the President of the United States, the unlawful transport of a firearm and ammunition across state borders with intentions to commit a felony, and the discharge of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime. He has not yet entered a plea. His subsequent court appearance is scheduled for May 11.
Prosecutors have indicated in official documents that Allen discharged the shotgun on at least one occasion as he proceeded past the magnetometer checkpoints, and they stated he fired “in the general direction” of the Secret Service officer who sustained an injury to their vest. Prosecutors noted that a spent cartridge casing was retrieved from the weapon’s chamber, and “at a minimum, one fragment consistent with a singular buckshot pellet was recovered from the scene.”
Secret Service Director Sean Curran indicated during a Fox News appearance on Thursday afternoon that Allen shot an agent at "point blank range with a shotgun."
Pirro stated that "the Secret Service officer discharged his weapon five times" and added that the officer’s injuries were not self-inflicted.
An officer fires (bottom L) as White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen sprints past security personnel in an image taken from security camera video, at the Washington Hilton Hotel, April 25, 2026.U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro via X
Pirro also communicated on Sunday that she will not be withdrawing from the case, despite her presence at the dinner event.
Pirro indicated that, despite Allen’s failure to expressly identify the president as a target in the documents released by prosecutors, which are reported to be his writings preceding the incident, Allen’s alleged monitoring of the president clearly indicates to her that "the president constituted the intended victim."
"Did he genuinely intend to assassinate the president? I can assure you that we will be able to substantiate that beyond any reasonable uncertainty," Pirro asserted.
"One potential concern that individuals might consider is his mental state: Is he mentally unstable? He is decidedly not. He possesses exceptional intelligence. He holds a master's level degree. He previously was employed at a NASA jet propulsion facility. This is an individual who has not experienced any psychotic episodes," she elaborated. He is consistently lucid and coherent."
Sourse: abcnews.go.com