WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors charged Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-year-old Torrance, California, resident, with attempting to assassinate President Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington on Saturday. Allen rushed past security at the Washington Hilton and discharged a firearm during the incident, according to charging documents.

Federal agents heard a loud gunshot as Allen pushed through a metal detector holding a long gun. A Secret Service officer identified in court papers only by the initials "V.G." was shot once in the chest while wearing a ballistic vest. The officer drew his service weapon and fired multiple times at Allen, who fell to the ground and suffered minor injuries but was not shot.

Allen was found to possess a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a .38-caliber pistol. Prosecutors also charged him with transporting firearms across state lines while traveling by train from California to Washington. The domestic terrorism charge carries a potential sentence of life in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jocelyn Ballantine said Allen "traveled across multiple state lines with a firearm" and attempted to assassinate the president with a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun.

According to the charging document, Allen sent an email to family members just before breaching the event perimeter stating that top Trump administration officials were his targets. Prosecutors and administration officials referred to the writings as a "manifesto." In the emailed document titled "Apology and Explanation," Allen wrote, "I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn't come to that."

Allen wrote that Secret Service agents were "targets only if necessary, and to be incapacitated non-lethally if possible" and that he would use buckshot to "minimize casualties." He also wrote, "I don't expect forgiveness, but if I could have seen any other way to get this close, I would have taken it."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "Law enforcement did not fail. They did exactly what they are trained to do."

Prosecutors requested that Allen be held in detention. U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh presided over Allen's initial hearing and set a second hearing for Thursday morning to determine whether Allen would be held in custody. Allen submitted a financial affidavit requesting representation, and his federal public defenders noted he has no prior criminal record. At the hearing, Allen was clad in a royal blue jumpsuit, showed no visible injuries, and said little aside from identifying himself and acknowledging that he understood the legal proceedings.