The incident occurred in 1950. Truman was living at Blair House, across the street from the White House, while the White House was undergoing renovations.
Truman was upstairs asleep when the two attackers approached the temporary living quarters. One of the men, Collazo, shot a Secret Service agent, the noise of which prompted the rest of the men assigned to protect Truman to rush outside and kill Collazo on the entrance steps.
Meanwhile the other attacker, Torresola, went to a guard booth in the corner. He shot and mortally wounded officer Leslie Coffelt after taking the guard by surprise. Torresola then made his way to his partner at the entrance to Blair House.
Truman woke up and looked out the window to see what the commotion was all about. He was ordered to get away from the window.
At this point an injured Coffelt, without much longer to live, propped himself against the guard booth and shot Torresola above the ear from thirty feet away.
Coffelt died within hours from the injuries he sustained. He is the only secret Service member to be killed while defending a President.
