White House Correspondents' dinner shooting suspect is on restrictive suicide precautions, lawyers say

Source: NBC News

May 2, 2026, 10:45 PM EDT


Defense lawyers for the man charged with trying to assassinate President Donald Trump during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last week say he’s being deprived of his dignity and resources by being unnecessarily kept under suicide precautions.

In a motion filed Saturday, Cole Tomas Allen's attorneys requested that he be taken off any suicide restrictions, which they characterized as “demeaning,” while he’s awaiting further hearings in the case.

Allen’s attorneys wrote that his “placement on suicide watch and suicide precautions amount to violations of his rights under the Due Process Clause to the U.S. Constitution” because he “has exhibited no indications of suicidality,” the motion filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states.

Allen was armed with multiple guns, as well as knives, officials have said, when he sprinted through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the event was being held on April 25. Allen, 31, fell to the ground and was taken into custody, officials have said. His defense team argued in the motion that Allen has been held under varying levels of suicide watch at different times since his arrest that night.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-suspect-restrictive-suicide-rcna343283