The California man accused of opening fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner snapped a selfie before the attack, donned in black with ammunition strapped to his body, newly released images revealed Wednesday.
The images were included in a court filing detailing the government's opposition to any bail for Cole Tomas Allen, who is accused of attacking the annual gathering of Washington, D.C., journalists and government officials.
He's been charged with one count of attempted assassination of the president, interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony and discharge of a firearm during a violent crime.
"Had the defendant achieved his intended outcome, he would have brought about one of the darkest days in American history," Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones wrote.
The evidence "of his guilt is overwhelming," the prosecutor added.
Allen photographed himself at about 8:03 p.m. ET Saturday, standing in front of his hotel room mirror "wearing a black dress shirt, black slacks, and what appears to be a red necktie, tucked into his pants," according to the court filing.
Prosecutors said the image showed the suspect "wearing a small leather bag consistent in appearance with the ammunition-filled bag later recovered from his person," along with a shoulder holster, a sheathed knife, pliers and wire cutters, the court document said.
Minutes later, Allen allegedly "rushed the screening checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a raised shotgun," Jones wrote.
The court filing also included images of the shotgun Allen allegedly used in the confrontation Saturday, along with the knives and a loaded .38-caliber pistol.
After Allen allegedly rushed past a metal detector, a Secret Service agent "drew his service weapon and fired five times at the defendant," the prosecutor wrote.
"The defendant fell to the ground, was restrained by law enforcement and was placed under arrest," Jones added. "The defendant suffered a minor injury to his knee but was not shot."
A court-appointed defense attorney for Allen could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.
"This was a planned attack of unfathomable malice that risked the lives of hundreds of people whose only transgression was attending an annual event celebrating the media and featuring the President of the United States," Jones wrote.
"It was, at its core, an anti-democratic act of political violence."
Allen got to Washington, with his legally purchased weapons, on an Amtrak ride from Los Angeles to Chicago and then from there to the nation's capital. The route Allen took is "famous for its scenic views of the mountains and deserts of the American West before traversing the vast expanse of the Great Plains," according to Jones.
Allen kept a "running note on his phone of his observations and thoughts" during this long journey, the prosecution said.
In contrast to the violent acts he was allegedly planning, Allen appeared to show great appreciation for the gorgeous scenes of America passing by his train window.
"He wrote that '[t]he southwest desert in spring Distant wind turbines looming like snowy mountains across the hazy NM desert,' that 'Chicago is cool; kinda like an Iowa small town was scaled up to LA size,' and that Pennsylvania’s 'woods are awesome (look like vast fairy lands filled with tiny trickling creeks in spring apparently,'” Jones wrote.
