Cole Thomas Allen reportedly sent a chilling manifesto against US President Donald Trump to his family shortly before opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, calling himself a “friendly federal killer” and revealing he was determined to kill Trump administration officials, reports New York Post.
“Pedophile, rapist, traitor”
Allen stated that his targets were “administration officials (except FBI Director Kash Patel): they are the targets, in order from the highest to the lowest,” according to a message he sent ten minutes before the shooting, a US official said.
“I am no longer willing to let a pedophile, rapist and traitor dirty my hands with his crimes,” Allen wrote, presumably referring to President Trump.
In the message, he stated that he would use the shot to “reduce the number of victims”, but at the same time admitted that he was ready to kill everyone in the room if necessary to reach his targets.
“I would still go through most of the people here to get to the targets if I had to, but I hope it doesn’t come to that,” he wrote.
“Crimes of the Oppressor”
Allen repeatedly referred to his Christian faith, trying to justify his actions, and mentioned political topics such as attacks on Venezuelan drug boats and the detention of illegal migrants.
“Turning the other cheek is valid when you yourself are oppressed. I am not a person raped in a detention camp. I am not a fisherman executed without trial,” Allen wrote in a disturbing message that a family member turned over to police, a US official said.
“I am not a child blown up in an explosion, nor a starving child, nor a teenage girl abused by numerous criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior, it is complicity in the crimes of the oppressor,” he added.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said investigators believe Allen traveled by train from Los Angeles to Washington via Chicago, possibly to avoid airport security checks.
He entered the hotel with a weapon
In the manifesto, Allen mocked the security measures at the event, claiming that he had no problem entering the hotel armed.
“I walked in with multiple weapons and no one even thought I could be a threat,” he wrote, adding that the level of security was “absolutely insane.”
“Security was focused on the protests and the arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone shows up the day before. This level of incompetence is insane and I sincerely hope it will be corrected when this country gets truly competent leadership again,” he said.
He added: “If I were an Iranian agent and not an American citizen, I could have brought the damn ‘Ma Deuce’ in here without anyone noticing. Crazy, really,” he wrote, referring to the nickname for the M2 Browning .50 caliber machine gun.
His brother notified police about the manifesto, and authorities confirmed that Allen had legally purchased the gun and trained at the range.
He signed the document as “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen”.
According to officials, he previously expressed radical political views and said he wanted to “do something” to solve the world’s problems.
“I feel anger”
At the end of the manifesto, which partly resembles a farewell letter, he described his own condition immediately before the attack.
“If anyone wonders what it’s like to do something like this: it’s horrible. I want to throw up, I want to cry because of everything I wanted to do and never will, because of all the people whose trust I’m betraying by doing this; I feel anger when I think about everything this administration has done,” he wrote.
