WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cole Tomas Allen, 31, has pleaded not guilty to charges including attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on April 25. Prosecutors allege Allen rushed past a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel ballroom carrying a semi-automatic handgun, a pump-action shotgun and three knives.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance, cabinet members and other White House officials were rushed from the ballroom after gunfire rang out. A Secret Service agent was shot but not seriously wounded.

Officials said Allen left his home in Torrance, California, on April 21, traveled by train to Chicago and then to Washington. According to court filings, Allen kept a note on his phone recording observations during the journey, including "The southwest desert in spring Distant wind turbines looming like snowy mountains across the hazy NM desert."

An affidavit states Allen emailed his family shortly before the attack. In that email, he wrote, "Administration officials are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest." He also wrote, "I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary."

A US government memorandum filed by prosecutors includes images showing Allen with weapons in a hotel room before the attack. The images show him posing in front of a mirror with weapons strapped to his body, including a sheathed knife and a bag with ammunition. Prosecutors say Allen took photos of himself at about 20:03 EST wearing dress clothes, a shoulder holster, pliers and wire cutters that were later recovered from him.

For about half an hour after taking the photos, Allen checked several websites for live coverage of the dinner and for Trump's attendance, prosecutors said. He then made his way downstairs and toward the ballroom where the dinner was taking place. Prosecutors allege Allen discarded a long black coat that had concealed a pump-action shotgun before approaching the screening checkpoint.

"Shortly thereafter, the defendant rushed the screening checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a raised shotgun," according to a court filing. Allen sprinted through a metal detector holding the shotgun with both hands in a raised position.

Prosecutors argue that Allen should remain detained before his trial. "Considering the relevant statutory factors, there is no condition or combination of conditions that will reasonably assure the safety of other people or the community if the defendant were released from custody," prosecutors said in the filing.

If convicted on the assassination attempt charge, Allen faces life in prison. He also faces charges of transportation of a firearm between states to commit a felony and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years.