A gunman who attempted to attack the White House Correspondents' Association event in Washington DC reportedly compiled a 1000-word manifesto in which he listed his intended targets, while singling out one Trump administration official he did not plan to harm: FBI Director Kash Patel.
The suspect was identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, who sent a lengthy document to his family shortly before exchanging gunfire with US Secret Service agents outside the Washington Hilton on Saturday night.
In the manifesto, Allen described himself as the 'Cole coldForce Friendly Federal Assassin Allen' and outlined a plan to target Donald Trump and senior officials in his administration. He wrote that 'Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.'
Allen also referred to himself as a US citizen and said he is 'no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.' He added that he aimed to limit casualties, saying he would only target Secret Service agents 'if necessary' and would avoid harming guests and staff unless forced to do so.
Allen wrote: 'I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people chose to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn't come to that.'
Authorities say Allen traveled by train from California, where he lived in the Los Angeles area and worked as a teacher. He is a graduate of Caltech and has described himself on LinkedIn as a 'mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.'
His sister told law enforcement that he 'had a tendency to make radical statements and his rhetoric constantly referenced a plan to do something to fix the issues with today's world,' according to a White House source cited by NPR.
The suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives, according to Washington DC Metropolitan Police. Allen's brother was the one who called the police after reading his manifesto. Allen exchanged gunfire with Secret Service agents outside the event venue before being taken into custody.
