WHCA shooting suspect’s motivations emerge: What we know |
WHCA shooting suspect’s motivations emerge: What we know
Details about the alleged gunman at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner have started to emerge ahead of his initial court appearance Monday.
The suspect has been identified as Cole Allen, 31, a teacher and game developer who law enforcement says traveled from California to Washington, D.C., to disrupt the annual black-tie dinner for journalists and public officials.
Here’s what we know so far about the suspect’s alleged motivations.
Suspect’s writings suggest Trump admin targets
Authorities are still investigating the alleged gunman’s motives for attempting to breach the dinner with a shotgun, handgun and knives. But the suspect’s own writings appear to illuminate his intentions.
In a manifesto first reported by the New York Post, which an administration official confirmed to The Hill was written by the suspect, Allen refers to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin.”
He allegedly wrote that Trump administration officials were “targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” while guests at the dinner and employees were “not targets at all.”
However, he said he would “still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary,” contending that the decision to attend “a speech by a pedophile, rapist and traitor” makes attendees complicit.
A U.S. Secret Service agent was shot amid the gunman’s sprint toward the ballroom, but the bullet........