There has been a lot of very low quality video footage released of Cole Thomas Allen, the man who crashed the Whitehouse Correspondents Dinner and despite Allen and a uniformed secret service agent exchanging gunfire, no one was hurt. A plain clothes secret service agent was struck in the torso but was wearing a ballistic vest, which probably saved his life.
This high resolution footage was released yesterday.
The purpose of an After Action Report or an Incident Debrief is to learn what went well and why, and also, what could have done better and why.
Let’s take a look at what the video can teach us.
In the first frame, we see that the rush of guests is over, everyone who is coming has arrived, and they are getting ready to tear down the security access point. There are ten officers visible and everyone is standing around talking and the atmosphere is relaxed. The door to access the security point is still unlocked and open. As long as that door is open, a potential threat has access so as long as the door is unlocked and open, everyone should be on high alert and mentally switched on. We also see the canine officer checking the doorway. The canine officers head is up indicating he may be looking at someone but we can’t determine that for certain.
In the second frame we see Allen enter the doorway already running. The canine officer has moved in the opposite direction from the security access point and has his back to Allen but has only taken a couple steps. If he did see Allen as may be indicated in the first frame, turning his back to that person and disengaging his canine would not a sound tactic. This guy is alone, wearing a long raincoat, and is very late to the event. A modicum of caution would not be unreasonable in this instance.
In the third frame we see how far Allen has penetrate the security area and he is obviously carrying a long gun pointed toward the ground. We also see the canine officer watching Allen run toward the security access point but is not reacting. None of the other officers are reacting.
In the fourth frame you see Allen is only a couple strides away from passing through the metal detector and the uniformed Secret Service officer at the bottom of the screen has just reached for her holstered pistol. The canine officer has not reacted. It appears that no one is verbally announcing there is a man with a gun running toward them or challenging the armed man verbally as no one else reacts to the gunman.
In the fifth frame Allen raised and points the shotgun at the uniformed Secret Service officer and simultaneously she has drawn her weapon and points it at Allen. It does not appear that Allen fired the shotgun. It appears that the canine officer is finally moving toward Allen with his dog on a leash. It appears that seven of the ten officers are looking at Allen but only one is reacting.
In the sixth frame we see the uniformed Secret Security officer fire the first round at Allen.
In the seventh frame we see the uniformed Secret Security officer fire the second round at Allen. We also see the plain clothes secret security agent reacting to Allen, bending and moving backwards. We can see the flames when the officer fired her pistol but it doesn’t appear that the shotgun was fired as no flame is visible from the shotgun. Since the pistol shot is visible and a shotgun round carries far more gunpowder it is reasonable to believe the shotgun was not fired, however, that will be confirmed by investigators.
In the eighth frame we see the unformed Secret Security officer fire a third round at Allen. We also see that the plain clothes Secret Security officer was directly in her line of fire when she was shooting at Allen. Allen was reportedly not hit by either of the three rounds she fired. It is possible that the plain clothes Secret Security agent was hit with friendly fire from this third shot but that will be determined by investigators.
Please understand that video is not conclusive evidence. Investigators will determine when and where any rounds were fired, where those rounds went, and if they hit anyone or anything. Video cannot conclusively determine that. What we can conclude from the video is the positioning of the officers on scene, their state of awareness, and their procedures.
Anyone that has worked as an armed professional knows that fighting complacency is a constant battle. Everyone wants to play the odds of when and how an attacker will come. What most don’t think about is that attackers are not always stupid. They are watching the armed professionals because that is their first target and its a hard target to defeat so they will study you, find your weaknesses, your vulnerabilities and they will wait and attack when it’s to their best advantage.
I teach these sort of things to armed professionals when I train them and show them videos like this so they can see how fast things can develop and how reaction times are slowed when your mind has switched off high alert, when we are tired, when we let our minds wander or become distracted. This is why good cops don’t want to stand and shoot the breeze with you. Its not being rude, its being alert and not distracted. That’s how good cops survive.
Ten officers went home after this event but that is only by the grace of God. God protect our protectors, keep them alert, keep them focussed, and keep them safe in Jesus mighty name I pray. Amen.
