Cole Tomas Allen hinted at his distaste for President Donald Trump in a letter left for his family before allegedly opening fire outside the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
“I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done,” the 31-year-old suspect wrote, according to NBC News, adding that “administration officials” were his “targets.”
It appears that Allen was prioritizing members of the administration from “highest-ranking to lowest.” NBC News reported that Allen was “not including” FBI Director Kash Patel in his list of targets.
Allen apparently sent his note to family members, along with his colleagues, students, bystanders and others, about 10 minutes before the attack on Saturday, April 25. Allen’s brother reportedly contacted the New London Police Department in Connecticut two hours after the shooting.
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The police department confirmed they had heard from “an individual who expressed concern about the incident that occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner earlier in the evening,” per NBC News. The caller was interviewed by authorities.
“I don’t expect forgiveness,” Allen allegedly wrote. “Again, my sincere apologies.”
Shots were fired during the annual event on Saturday as White House officials and journalists gathered alongside President Trump at a ballroom inside the Washington Hilton. One secret service member was shot, although he was saved by a bulletproof vest, while other attendees were quickly escorted out of the event.
Allen was taken into federal custody near the event. He was allegedly armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives, per authorities.
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Trump, 79, spoke with reporters on Saturday following the incident, praising his wife, Melania Trump, for staying calm.
“I want to thank the first lady, that was a rather traumatic experience for her,” he shared. “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society, we’re not going to cancel things out … we can’t do that. We wanted to stay tonight, I fought like hell to say, but it was protocol … there was a lot of action going on.”
The president appeared on the Sunday, April 26, episode 60 Minutes for a longer conversation about what went down.
“I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for [the shooter]. I wanted to see what was going on,” he said. “And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. I was surrounded by great people and I probably made them act a little bit more slowly. I said, ‘Wait a minute, let me see.’”
Allen is expected to make an appearance in federal court on Monday, April 27.
