D.C. gala gunman wrote ‘manifesto,’ traveled from California before attack, officials say

Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected gunman who shook the nation’s top leaders by exchanging gunfire with federal authorities after passing through the secure perimeter of a Washington press gala late Saturday, had made the long drive from Southern California and had written a “manifesto” threatening Trump administration officials before the short-lived attack, authorities said.

Allen, a 31-year-old Caltech graduate and high school teacher from Torrance, is believed to have traveled by train to Chicago and then to D.C. before settling in at the Washington Hilton with two guns he had previously purchased, authorities said.

The attacker managed to breach several layers of security at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. The dinner took place outside the ballroom where President Trump and other top federal officials were seated before being escorted out by armed agents.

Allen could not be reached for comment as of Sunday and an attorney could not be identified for him.

According to Trump, Allen also wrote a “manifesto” before the attack, which he shared with his family and which his brother reported to local law enforcement in Connecticut. The New York Post reported It was revealed that Allen described himself in the document as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and announced that he intended to kill Trump administration officials.

New London (Conn.) Deputy Police Chief John Perry said that around 10:30 p.m., a man walked into the lobby of the agency’s headquarters to report that he had received a disturbing email from Allen. The relative initially thought it was spam, but then she saw the news about what was happening in DC and felt she had to report it.

Perry did not say what was in the email and did not know exactly when it was sent. However, the relative said he saw it only around 10pm and opened it. “I think he was watching what was going on and he put two and two together and said I should go to my local police,” Perry said.

He said law enforcement officials forwarded the email to the Secret Service and the FBI. Trump said the document would be released, but as of Sunday it had not. Criminal charges against the suspect are pending and he is likely to make his first court appearance on Monday, authorities said.

FBI agents arrive down the street from the home of Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Torrance, CA, on Saturday night.

(Robbin Goddard/Los Angeles Times)

Late Saturday, both local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, descended on the Torrance neighborhood where Allen was believed to be living in a home with his family, with Torrance police clearing the road and putting police tape on part of the street. A man who answered a knock on the front door said, “Not right now,” and declined to comment further.

The thwarted attack was the latest in a series of incidents in which gunmen came dangerously close to Trump, and renewed questions about the safety and security of the nation’s commander in chief at a time of intense political division at home and conflict abroad.

Trump was grazed by a bullet in the ear at one of his presidential campaign events in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024; this was the first of two attempts on his life during the campaign cycle. The other involved a gunman targeting the president, who was golfing in Florida before federal agents intervened. Earlier this year, a gunman was killed after breaching security at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club.

Questions swirled Sunday about how such a security breach occurred again and whether large, high-profile events are safe for senior officials in a country where firearms are easy to obtain and ubiquitous.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche said in an interview on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning that federal authorities believe the suspect set out alone to “target people who work in the administration, most likely including the president,” but a motive is still being determined and evidence is still being collected, including devices taken from Allen and interviews with people who know him.

“As of now, we have no connection whatsoever to any policy directives from President Trump or Iran or anything we’ve done in this country, but we are investigating the matter,” he said.

Blanche also downplayed the threat to Trump, other officials in the room such as Vice President J.D. Vance and First Lady Melania Trump, and hundreds of others attending the annual event; this suggested that Allen was stopped shortly after passing a checkpoint manned by metal detectors and federal agents; Dramatic video of Trump appeared online.

Agents stand guard after an incident at the annual White House Correspondents Assn. Dinner on Saturday night.

(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Let’s not forget that the suspect didn’t go very far. He barely made it through the perimeter,” Blanche said. “And although this was extraordinarily dangerous and put many lives at risk, and there is no doubt that this is something we will have to learn over the next few weeks, the system worked. We were safe, President Trump was safe. Secret Service agents kept him safe. We were all safe.”

Blanche’s assessment that the attacker had breached security (he was only a few feet away, she said) has been disputed by some.

According to other attendees, including Times journalists, event staff were checking tickets at multiple points, though not in great detail, before the escalators leading down to the metal detectors where Allen allegedly sped past armed security.

Attendees said the detectors were located just outside the event hall and where the bathrooms used for the event were located, and the attacker was tackled to the ground about 10 to 15 feet away. Gunshots, including two from the gunman, were heard throughout the ballroom, according to Blanche.

Allen, who graduated from Caltech in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering and is registered to vote with no party preference, made a $25 political contribution earmarked for the campaign of then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who is challenging Trump for the presidency in 2024.

While at Caltech, he was a teaching assistant and a member of the school’s Christian fellowship and Nerf club, according to his LinkedIn profile. He later studied computer science as a graduate student at CSU-Dominguez Hills.

Allen was named teacher of the month for December 2024 at C2 Education, which specializes in university exam preparation, private tutoring and academic consultancy. A representative from C2 Education was not immediately available for comment.

Accordingly New York PostAllen has previously mocked event security in his articles, explaining that when he arrived at the hotel armed to check in, he found much less security than he expected.

U.S. Secret Service agents patrol the North Lawn of the White House following a shooting incident outside the ballroom at the annual White House Correspondents’ Assn. Dinner in Washington on Saturday night.

(Tom Brenner / Associated Press)

“I was expecting security cameras at every turn, wiretapping in hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors at the zoo. What I encountered (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing. No damn security. Not on transportation. Not at the hotel. Not at the event,” he wrote, according to the Post. “I walk in with multiple guns and not a single person there thinks I could be a threat.”

Authorities did not provide details of Allen’s alleged travel route to D.C., other than to say it was by train. Responding to questions about whether Allen took Amtrak to Washington and whether his luggage would undergo any security screening, Amtrak said only that it was cooperating with federal authorities.

Trump also focused on the lack of security at the hotel, as well as posting video of the suspect rushing through security and multiple photos of him being detained on the hotel floor.

While Trump praised the federal agents who defeated the attacker, he suggested that events with senior US officials should be held in more secure facilities, such as the giant ballroom he tried to build on the White House grounds after demolishing the old East Wing.

“What happened last night is why our great Military, our Secret Service, our Law Enforcement, and for different reasons every President for the last 150 years have DEMANDED a large, safe and secure Ballroom be built ON THE GROUND OF THE WHITE HOUSE,” Trump wrote on social media Sunday. “This event could never have happened with the Military Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It can’t be built fast enough!”

Weijia Jiang, president of the reporters association, said Sunday that the group’s board of directors “will meet to evaluate what happened and decide how to move forward.” He also thanked the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies for keeping people safe and praised the journalists in the room for immediately getting to work informing the public about what was happening.

Times staff writers Richard Winton, Ben Wieder and Justine McDaniel contributed to this report.