Griselio Torresola - The Assassination Attempt

The Assassination Attempt

In the attack on the Blair House, Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to enter the President's residence and assassinate him. Torresola walked up Pennsylvania Avenue from the west side while his partner, Oscar Collazo, engaged Secret Service Special Agents and White House policemen with his Walther P 38 from the east. Torresola approached a guard booth at the west corner of the Blair-Lee house, and noted an officer, Leslie Coffelt, sitting inside. Torresola, in a double handed, isosceles shooting stance, quickly pivoted from left to right around the opening of the booth, and fired four shots from his 9 mm German Luger, semi-automatic pistol at close range at Coffelt. Three of the shots struck Coffelt in the chest and abdomen, and the fourth went through his policeman's tunic. Coffelt slumped down in his chair, mortally wounded.

Torresola turned his attention to plainclothes White House policeman Joseph Downs. Downs, who moments before had paused to chat with Coffelt, was proceeding down a walkway to the basement door at the west end of the Blair-Lee house when he heard shots being fired. Downs turned back towards the guard booth and Torresola, but was shot once in the hip before he could draw his weapon. He was then shot twice more by Torresola, once in the back and once in the neck. Downs staggered back to the basement door, opened it, slid in, then slammed the door behind him, depriving Torresola of entry into the Blair-Lee House. Torresola then turned his attention to the sound of the shoot-out between his partner, Collazo, and several law enforcement officers. Torresola noted wounded District of Columbia policeman Donald Birdzell aiming at Collazo from the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue. Torresola aimed and shot Birdzell in the left knee from a distance of approximately 40 feet.

Torresola stood to the immediate left of the Blair House steps while he reloaded his empty gun. President Truman, who was asleep in his second floor bedroom, awoke to the sound of the gunshots outside. Truman went to his bedroom window, opened it, and looked outside. From where he stood reloading off, Torresola was thirty-one feet away from the president. It is not known whether either man saw the other. At the same time, the dying Secret Serviceman Leslie Coffelt staggered out of his guard booth, leaned against it and aimed his revolver at Torresola who was approximately 20 feet away. Coffelt fired, hitting Torresola two inches above the left ear on a slight upward angle, killing him instantly. Torresola left behind a young wife and two young children. Coffelt succumbed to three bullet wounds several hours later. Leslie Coffelt was accorded burial at Arlington National Cemetery. A plaque at the Blair-Lee House commemorates Coffelt's sacrifice, heroism, and fidelity to his duty and his country. The assassination attempt lasted less than 40 seconds.