The gunman who tried to attack a White House Correspondents’ Association event in Washington, D.C., reportedly compiled a 1,000-word manifesto in which he listed his intended targets, while singling out one Trump administration official he had no plans to harm: FBI Director Kash Patel.The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen who sent a lengthy document to his family shortly before exchanging gunfire with U.S. Secret Service agents outside the Washington Hilton hotel on Saturday night.In the statement, Allen described himself as “Cool Force Allen’s friendly federal hitman” and outlined a plan to target Donald Trump and senior officials in his administration. He wrote that “administration officials (except Mr.
Patel: They are targets, ranked in order of priority from highest to lowest.Allen also referred to himself as an American citizen, and said he was “no longer willing to let a pedophile, rapist, and traitor cover my hands with his crimes.” He added that he aims to limit casualties, saying he would target Secret Service agents only “if necessary” and would avoid harming guests and staff unless they had to do so.“I still would cross-check most of the people here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the grounds that most people chose to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are therefore complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” Allen wrote.
Authorities say Allen traveled by train from California, where he lived in the Los Angeles area and worked as a teacher. A graduate of Caltech, he describes himself on LinkedIn as a “mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, and educator by birth.”His sister told law enforcement that he “tended to make extremist statements and his rhetoric constantly implied a plan to do something to fix the problems in today’s world,” according to a White House source cited by NPR.The suspect was armed with a rifle, a handgun and multiple knives, according to Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police. It was Allen’s brother who called the police after reading his statement.Allen exchanged gunfire with Secret Service agents outside the scene before he was taken into custody.
