Trump, Secret Service director say agent not shot by friendly fire as video released
Secret Service chief says agent was shot at ‘point-blank range’ by suspect who tried to storm correspondents’ dinner
US President Donald Trump and the head of the Secret Service said on Thursday the federal agent injured during the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had not been hit by friendly fire, as authorities released a video of the incident.
Jeanine Pirro, the US Attorney for the District of Columbia, posted the nearly six-minute video on social media amid lingering questions over whose bullet struck the officer.
Pirro noted that the security footage captured suspect Cole Tomas Allen “casing the area” of the Washington Hilton throughout the day prior to Saturday’s attack at the annual media gala.
The video features several clips of a man walking back and forth down a corridor and through a fitness centre.
A more dramatic excerpt then shows the man, carrying what appears to be a long-barrelled gun, charging through a security checkpoint past uniformed police and agents in suits.
“There is no evidence the shooting was the result of friendly fire,” she said, adding that the video had already been provided to the US District Court.