A U.S. government court filing made public on Wednesday has prompted renewed questions about initial statements that a gunman shot a Secret Service officer while allegedly attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.
The filing, a pretrial detention motion, offers the government's most detailed description to date of the episode. It says the suspect, identified in filings as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, fired a shotgun "in the direction of the stairs leading down to the ballroom" where the president, administration officials and members of the press were gathered on Saturday night.
Notably, the motion refers to an officer firing five times, but does not say that any officer or other person was struck by shots fired by the suspect. The document also states that a spent cartridge was located in the suspect's shotgun. It does not allege that Allen aimed at or struck the Secret Service officer who authorities have said was shot in the chest but was protected by his body armor.
Those details stand in contrast to remarks made publicly earlier by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and by Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The gap between the public statements and the language in the filing has renewed questions about who actually fired the round that struck the Secret Service officer.
Pirro, hours after the incident, told reporters that the suspect would be charged with "assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon," though that specific charge does not appear among the counts filed so far. She has indicated Allen could face additional charges. Prosecutors have charged Allen with attempting to assassinate the president.
Blanche told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday that he believed shots from Allen's shotgun had hit the officer. He repeated that belief at a Monday press conference but added the qualification, "We're still looking at that." When asked at that press conference whether Officer V.G. was the only officer who had fired his weapon, Blanche said investigators were still collecting evidence and cautioned that it was not an "exact science." He added that buckshot in particular "scatters everywhere, and sometimes it just disappears."
A White House official, when questioned about who fired the round that struck the officer, declined to assign responsibility and referred the question to law enforcement. The Secret Service and the Justice Department did not immediately provide comment in response to requests.
A separate examination of security footage obtained by a newspaper added further scrutiny to the government's account. That review found no clear indication in the images that Allen fired his weapon at all. Instead, the examination concluded that a law enforcement officer discharged his pistol multiple times as the suspect ran through a checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel. At one point during the brief sequence, other security personnel appear to have been in the line of fire of the officer as he shot at the running suspect.
Earlier court filings add more detail but stop short of assigning the source of the shot that struck the Secret Service officer. A criminal complaint affidavit filed on Monday noted that Secret Service personnel "heard a loud gunshot." It said a Secret Service officer wearing a ballistic vest, identified by the initials "V.G.," was shot once, but the affidavit did not indicate who fired that round.
The affidavit did state that Officer V.G. fired multiple times at Allen. The suspect was not struck by those return rounds but fell to the ground, the affidavit said.
Court records also include excerpts from a manifesto Allen wrote before the attack. In the document, he said "in order to minimize casualties I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls)." That statement has been cited in filings as context for the ammunition selection attributed to the suspect.
Wednesday's detention motion included a photograph Allen is said to have taken of himself in a hotel-room mirror before the attack. In the image, he is described as wearing all black except for what appears to be a red tie tucked into his pants. He is shown armed with an ammunition bag, a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife, pliers and wire cutters.
Authorities and prosecutors are continuing to gather evidence. The contrasting descriptions across court documents, public statements and video review underscore unresolved questions about the sequence of gunfire and which round struck the wounded officer, who was reported to have been protected by body armor.
As investigators reconcile ballistic evidence, witness accounts and available footage, prosecutors have proceeded with charges including the allegation that Allen attempted to assassinate the president. Officials have signaled the potential for further charges but have not yet made specific additions public.
The ongoing inquiries into who fired the shot that wounded the officer are likely to remain central to pretrial proceedings and to public and official scrutiny of the response to the incident.