There is a striking irony in the latest assassination attempt on President Donald Trump taking place at Washington DC's Hilton hotel. Locals have long referred to it as the 'Hinckley Hilton' since the last presidential assassination attempt in the US capital, when John Hinckley Jr., a deranged fan of Jodie Foster, opened fire on Ronald Reagan as he was leaving the hotel in 1981. Both attempts, thankfully, failed. As the world knows, Trump escaped without injury, and while President Reagan was badly wounded and spent nearly two weeks in hospital, he went on to make a full recovery.
Security Risks at Working Hotels
The drama at the White House Correspondents' Dinner has highlighted the security risks of hosting events at a functioning hotel. The alleged gunman, 31-year-old Cole Allen, was able to circumvent many standard presidential security measures because he was staying as a guest at the 1,107-room Hilton. Consequently, he was already inside the outer security perimeter set up to protect the event. In a 'manifesto' sent to his family, the suspect himself noted the 'insane' lack of security. 'I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat,' he wrote. 'This level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it's corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.'
Lax Security Checks
The hotel and surrounding streets were closed to everyone except hotel guests and those with dinner invitations from 3pm. Even when a ballroom event is 'hardened'—security parlance for being encircled by heavily armed Secret Service agents and uniformed officers with metal detectors and cameras—hotel guests like Allen had only to negotiate a single security check-in before gaining admission. And even that check, according to attendees who spoke to the Daily Mail, was rudimentary. 'I remember remarking even before the event that the security was incredibly lax,' said one dinner guest who was also staying at the hotel. Later, she and other guests were able to enter the dinner simply by showing a ticket that, because they are sold by the table and not individually, only mentioned her table number and not her name. 'I didn't show my ID to anyone and nobody checked my name the whole day, which was mind-blowing,' she said. 'It was more difficult to get on my flight down to Washington than it was to get into a dinner with the President.' Other guests complained that checking for metal items with detector wands was also cursory. President Trump described the Hilton as 'not particularly secure' after the incident.
Inside the Attempt
Hotel staff insiders claimed that Allen, from California, was able to check into an 'unsecured' bedroom at the Hilton a few days earlier, smuggling in undetected a mini-arsenal that included a shotgun, handgun, and knives. However, according to reports, Allen never made it to the basement level, let alone the ballroom. He took stairs or escalators down to the so-called terrace level—the floor directly above the basement—where dinner guests had to show their invitations. After reportedly unpacking the shotgun in a side room, the suspect ran across the terrace lobby, where a security checkpoint had been set up to screen guests, and headed towards stairs that would have taken him straight down to the ballroom. As he went, he exchanged fire with Secret Service agents thronging the lobby, hitting one uniformed officer who was saved by his bulletproof vest. Allen was not shot; instead, he was tackled to the ground at the top of the staircase leading down to the ballroom. It is possible that the Secret Service was anxious to avoid hitting innocent bystanders in such a crowded area.
Third Attempt on Trump's Life
This is the third attempt on Trump's life. During the 2024 campaign, a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazed his right ear. Crooks was subsequently shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. Two months later, Ryan Routh, then 58, was arrested for trying to kill Trump as he played golf at his West Palm Beach course in Florida. In February this year, he was sentenced to life in prison.
