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Former D.C. police detective Ted Williams criticized what he described as “lax” security at Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner after a frightening incident left one Secret Service agent injured and a ballroom full of journalists and administration officials shaken.
“The security there was somewhat lax to some degree, where you had these soft areas,” Williams said Sunday.
He raised serious concerns about how the suspected gunman, identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, a computer scientist from Torrance, California, was able to bring weapons into the hotel.
“But when you have a guy that, like, Cole Allen here, actually living, actually having a room there…. one of the first things that came to mind for me was how did he get these weapons in that hotel?”
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Authorities say Allen rushed a Secret Service checkpoint during the event while armed with multiple weapons. Williams noted that Allen appeared to have checked into the hotel well before the dinner, suggesting he may have brought the weapons in ahead of time.
“They’re going to have to reassess, without a doubt,” Williams said.
“As long as I’ve known this White House dinner, or correspondents’ dinner, it has been held at the Washington Hilton there, and I’ve attended it on numerous occasions, and I can tell you what you observed last night — in the close proximity of these tables — [it was] just too close, too many people in that ballroom at any one given time.”
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He added that the situation could have turned far worse.
“If that guy would have actually breached into the interior of that ballroom, and everybody would have tried to rush out of there, it could have been a very catastrophic event last night.”
Chaos ensued at Saturday’s event when Allen opened fire on a Secret Service officer, who was taken to the hospital after he was shot in his ballistic vest.
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Agents fired back at Allen, who was not struck. He was also taken to the hospital.
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told reporters at a news conference that Allen has been charged with two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. Pirro said that more charges are expected.
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