The suspect in Saturday’s security scare at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner wrote about targeting the Trump administration, officials said Sunday. President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, several administration officials and members of Congress were evacuated from the room after shots rang out.
The FBI says the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif., sent his writings to members of his family before the attack. The writings apparently did not specifically mention the Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton hotel.
Neighbors described Allen as quiet. A mechanical engineer-turned-video game developer. Investigators are now trying to figure out what may have pushed him to a breaking point, where he might have believed political violence was the only answer.
Authorities had not heard of Allen before they say he charged Secret Service agents at the dinner. A motive is still not crystal clear, although investigators say they have looked at some of his electronic devices and they say they know who he was targeting.
“It does appear that he did, in fact, set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC’s Meet The Press on Sunday. “But I want to wait and not get ahead of us on that,” he said.
Allen summarized his motives in a essay he allegedly wrote before the attack, provided to NBC News by a senior White House official. In it, he apologizes to his family, friends and colleagues. He says he felt obligated to carry out the attack because he is an American citizen and, “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” A senior administration official tells NBC News that Allen’s brother contacted the New London Police Department in Connecticut when he received the note.
The department confirmed being contacted at around 10:49 p.m. Saturday, just over two hours after the shooting, “by an individual who expressed concern about the incident that occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner earlier in the evening.” Police contacted federal law enforcement and the caller was interviewed by authorities.
Allen’s sister told the Secret Service and Montgomery County, Maryland Police after the shooting that her brother had a tendency to make radical statements and he had referred to a plan to do “something” to fix the issues with today’s world, the senior administration official said.
Online records show Allen is a mechanical engineering graduate of CalTech. He was living in a quiet suburban neighborhood. Locals who knew him reacted to word of his arrest.
“My friend called me and said ‘check the news, the C2 guy just did whatever he tried to do,” said Max Harris of Torrance, Calif. Allen was a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a company dedicated to helping high schoolers get into college, according to a LinkedIn profile. “It was unbelievable to me. I never would have expected that in my life,” said Harris.
“What we believe happened, at least as of now, is that the suspect traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago, and then Chicago to Washington, D.C.,” Blanche explained. “He checked into the hotel where the Correspondent’s Dinner was at in the last day or two.”
Investigators say Allen was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives, all of which were purchased legally.
In addition to his bachelor’s degree, Allen has a master’s degree from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Now, he faces federal charges.
“The defendant is being charged with two counts, 924(c), using a firearm during a crime of violence, and a second crime under 111, which is assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon,” said Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
More charges are likely to come, Pirro said. Allen’s first court appearance is scheduled for Monday morning.
NBC News contributed to this report
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