Moments before he allegedly targeted members of the Trump administration at the White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday, the suspected gunman wrote to family members and suggested his violence was an act of faith to defend the oppressed.
Authorities have linked the writings to 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen, a highly educated California man who was a part-time teacher and amateur video game developer. The document, which he sent just minutes before attempting to reach a ballroom at the Washington Hilton with several firearms and knives, read at times like a suicide note.
In the document, Allen called himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and included a list of targets in the Trump administration, without explicitly naming President Donald Trump. Allen aired a litany of complaints about the administration. Among them he listed and responded to hypothetical objections that could come from Christians.
While some media have reported that the manifesto contained “anti-Christian” content, Allen appeared to identify himself with the faith.
“Objection 1,” he wrote, “as a Christian, you should turn the other cheek.”
“Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed,” he wrote. “Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
Another objection appeared to reference Matthew 22:21: “Yield unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” Cole wrote. But if political representatives don’t “follow the law,” he wrote, “no one is required to yield them anything so unlawfully ordered.”
Allen’s father, Thomas Allen, was listed as an elder at Grace United Reformed Church (Grace URC) in Torrance, an evangelical congregation that describes itself as preaching “a gospel that is Christ-centered, covenantal and confessional.” The church’s leadership page and social media pages have since been pulled down, and the church did not respond to a request for comment.
The church is less than a mile from the home where Allen lived with his parents. On Sunday, security guards escorted church members inside for worship while keeping reporters out.
It’s unclear if Allen was attending Grace URC at the time of the attack, but in his writing he thanked his “family, both personal and church, for your love over these 31 years.”
On his LinkedIn profile, Allen listed an association with Caltech Christian Fellowship during his time studying at California Institute of Technology, an elite university in Pasadena where he graduated in 2017. According to The Wall Street Journal, he coordinated a group that met for Bible study, prayer, food, and fellowship.
Members of Caltech Christian Fellowship recalled Allen as quiet and committed to his faith. “He was definitely a strong believer in evangelical Christianity at the time that I knew him,” Elizabeth Terlinden told The New York Times.
Caltech Christian Fellowship did not respond to a request for comment.
Last week, Cole traveled by train from California to Washington, DC, checking in as a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel with weapons including a shotgun, a handgun, and knives. According to his document, he lied to his family about where he would be, saying he had an interview.
On Saturday around 8:30 p.m., shortly after the White House press gala got underway, security rushed Trump offstage after shots were heard outside the hotel’s International Ballroom. He, along with First Lady Melania Trump and cabinet members, was present for the annual gala, where members of the media mingled with administration officials. Allen, who appeared to be acting solo, had rushed a Secret Service checkpoint on the hotel’s ground floor before being arrested.
There were no fatalities from the incident. One law enforcement official was wounded; a Secret Service officer who was shot in the chest was wearing a bulletproof vest. He has since been released from the hospital.
It was the first time Trump attended the annual press event as president.
“He never even came close to getting by the doors or through the doors,” Trump told Fox News Sunday. “Law enforcement was great … and I’d be the first to complain if they weren’t.”
Despite Cole’s statements of affection for his church family, Trump characterized the suspect as someone who was motivated by hatred toward Christians.
“The guy is a sick guy when you read his manifesto,” Trump said. “He hates Christians, that’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians. … He was a very troubled guy.”
This is the latest high-profile assassination attempt Trump has faced in recent years. The most serious occurred at a Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally on July 13, 2024, during the presidential campaign. A rally attendee and the would-be assassin both died. Trump sustained an injury to his right ear. Another attempt occurred on September 15, 2024, when security detained a man with a rifle in the bushes at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while Trump was golfing.
This is also the second time an attempted presidential assassination has happened on the grounds of the Washington Hilton. On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. fired six shots, wounding then-president Ronald Reagan and several others. Reagan underwent emergency surgery for a punctured lung and broken rib but recovered. Hinckley was found not guilty of charges of attempting to assassinate the president by reason of insanity.
In remarks at the White House after Saturday’s event, Trump asked Americans to “recommit with their hearts in resolving our difference peacefully.”
Allen is expected to face charges Monday.
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