The alleged perpetrator of the shooting that occurred on Saturday during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Cole Allen, sent his family a lengthy manifesto just ten minutes before the attack, in which he identified members of Donald Trump’s Government as “targets,” as revealed this Sunday by the newspaper.
Allen, 31, justifies his actions by describing himself as a citizen who is not willing to allow a “pedophile, rapist and traitor” (a possible reference to President Trump, present at the event) to act on his behalf.
In the 1,052-word document, obtained by the New York newspaper, it details a list of priorities for the attack, placing senior officials of the Trump Administration at the top of its objectives, with the only exception of the director of the FBI, Kash Patel. In this way, he planned to attack “public officials.” “They are the objective, prioritizing from the highest position to the lowest,” explains Allen, who signs as
Instead, he points out that security and hotel staff “are not targets, if possible.” Although in the case of Secret Service agents he expresses his intention to “incapacitate them non-lethally, if possible” because they are “targets only if necessary.” The document also explains that it uses pellets and not bullets to avoid further damage.
The letter includes a question and answer part about his intentions and in one part he refers to the Christian saying that you have to turn the other cheek. However, he considers that “turning the other cheek when another person is oppressed is not Christian, but complicity with the crimes of the oppressor.” Thus, he cites “violations in detention centers”, “fishermen executed without trial” or
Regarding the attack itself, he argues that the United States is a state of law, but that “when representatives and judges do not comply with the law, no one owes them anything.”
Surprise due to lack of security
On a practical level, due to the lack of security inside the hotel, with the measures aimed mainly at the outside and at the protesters. “It seems like no one has thought about what happens if someone registers the day before. This level of incompetence is insane.“he explains.
The perpetrator of the events insistently asks for forgiveness from his family, friends and environment in general and argues that “If there had been another way to do it, I would have done it”. He also identifies as half black and half white. The text was sent to his relatives moments before the attack began.
Allen ran into the security checkpoint on Saturday night to access the event at the Washington Hilton Hotel where Trump, several members of his government and journalists were present, but he was subdued by the agents, but not before wounding one of them with a shot.
Allen, a 31-year-old teacher by profession and residing in the city of Torrance, California, could be charged with using a firearm in a violent crime and assaulting a federal agent with a firearm.
