By Bo Erickson and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and the head of the Secret Service said on Thursday the federal agent injured during the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had not been hit by friendly fire.
U.S. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a Thursday Fox News interview that one agent was shot at “point-blank range” by the suspect as he ran through a security checkpoint near the dinner on Saturday.
“Our officer heroically returned fire,” Curran said on “The Will Cain Show,” adding the agent fired five times.
The suspect was not hit by the agent’s fire, Curran said, but fell to the ground after hitting his knee. The suspect was subdued by other federal agents near the top of the stairs leading to the ballroom where Trump, the first lady, top administration officials and hundreds of others dined, he said.
A U.S. law enforcement official also told Reuters on Thursday that an investigation had concluded the Secret Service agent was not hit by “friendly fire.”
The armed suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, sprinted through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday attempting, prosecutors allege, to assassinate Trump.
TRUMP NOT KEEN ON WEARING BULLETPROOF VEST
Curran’s comments differ from court papers filed on Wednesday by prosecutors about the sequence of events.
Prosecutors referred to an officer firing five times, but their filings do not mention the officer being shot.
The Wednesday document also did not accuse Allen of aiming at or striking the Secret Service officer.
There has been media reporting suggesting the agent may have been shot by friendly fire.
“They said it wasn’t friendly fire. It wasn’t us,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday.
Curran in his interview defended the security protocols at the Saturday dinner location.
“The site was set up perfectly. I will tell you I would not change the site again,” he said.
Trump, when asked if he would wear a bulletproof vest, did not appear to be keen.
“I don’t know if I can handle looking 20 pounds heavier,” he said. “I guess it’s something you consider. In one way you don’t like to do it because you’re giving in to a bad element.”
The incident has revived concerns about the safety of the U.S. president and other top officials amid a pattern of political violence in the United States.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Christian Martinez, and Bo Erickson; Editing by David Ljunggren, Michelle Nichols and Tom Hogue)
Comments