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By Bo Erickson and Humeyra Pamuk<\/p>\n
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 \u200cattack at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner had not been hit by friendly fire.<\/p>\n
U.S. \u200cSecret Service Director Sean Curran said in a Thursday Fox News interview that one agent was shot at “point-blank range” by \u200bthe suspect as he ran through a security checkpoint near the dinner on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“Our officer heroically returned fire,” Curran said on “The Will Cain Show,” adding the agent fired five times.<\/p>\n
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 \u200cother federal agents near the top \u2060of the stairs leading to the ballroom where Trump, the first lady, top administration officials and hundreds of others dined, he said.<\/p>\n
A U.S. law enforcement official \u2060also told Reuters on Thursday that an investigation had concluded the Secret Service agent was not hit by “friendly fire.”<\/p>\n
The armed suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, sprinted through a security checkpoint at the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday \u200battempting, \u200bprosecutors allege, to assassinate Trump.<\/p>\n
TRUMP NOT KEEN ON WEARING \u200bBULLETPROOF VEST<\/p>\n
Curran’s comments differ from court papers \u200cfiled on Wednesday by prosecutors about the sequence of events.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors referred to an officer firing five times, but their filings do not mention the officer being shot.<\/p>\n
The Wednesday document also did not accuse Allen of aiming at or striking the Secret Service officer.<\/p>\n
There has been media reporting suggesting the agent may have been shot by friendly fire.<\/p>\n
“They said it wasn’t friendly fire. It wasn’t us,” Trump told reporters in \u200cthe Oval Office on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Curran in his interview defended \u200bthe security protocols at the Saturday dinner location.<\/p>\n
“The site was \u200bset up perfectly. I will tell you I \u200bwould not change the site again,” he said.<\/p>\n
Trump, when asked if he would \u200cwear a bulletproof vest, did not appear \u200bto be keen.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know \u200bif 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 \u200belement.”<\/p>\n
The incident has revived concerns about \u200cthe safety of the U.S. president and other top officials amid a pattern of \u200bpolitical violence in the United States.<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Christian Martinez, and Bo Erickson; \u200bEditing by David Ljunggren, Michelle Nichols and Tom Hogue)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n