Four days after Torrance teacher Cole Tomas Allen attacked the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, some facts are clear.
The video shows him running through the security area of the hotel where the event took place. Authorities say he wrote a “manifesto” detailing his plans to fire members of Trump’s Cabinet. He is said to have informed family members of his plans shortly before the attack.
But some important details remain unknown, including exactly what went down in those frantic seconds at the hotel and what motivated him.
Cole Tomas Allen on the court
(Dana Verkouteren via Associated Press)
What we know
- Cost: Authorities charged Allen, 31, with transporting firearms on state highways while traveling by train from California to Washington and firing a gun during the incident at the Washington Hilton, where officials said a police agent was shot while wearing his vest. Asst. US Atty. Jocelyn Ballantine said Allen “walked many interstate highways with a gun” and “tried to kill the president with a 12-gauge shotgun.” Allen and his attorney could not be reached for comment. Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump.
- ‘Manifesto’: Officials cited a manifesto allegedly written by Allen in which he called himself a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and said he targeted Trump administration officials “from the highest to the lowest.” The letter says, “I don’t expect forgiveness, but if I could have seen another way to approach this, I would have taken it.”
- A message to the family: Prosecutors also described an email Allen allegedly sent to family members as he prepared to break the cycle of the event, in which he allegedly wrote that senior Trump administration officials were his target but that he was willing to “pass” others at the event to reach them.
- Times before the attack: Newly released documents from prosecutors say Allen “left his room at the Washington Hilton multiple times” that night. At that time, he used his cell phone to visit the “Presidential Schedule – CivicTracker” web page. Shortly after 8:00 p.m., while he was inside his hotel room, “the defendant used his cell phone to take a picture of himself in the mirror,” the paper noted. It is alleged that he edited the “Apology and Explanation” emails attached a few minutes later, at about 8:30 pm “Immediately after that, the defendant rushed to the checkpoint on the Terrace Level of the Washington Hilton with a raised gun,” state prosecutors said.
People react after the annual White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner on Saturday.
(Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
What we don’t know
- Time line: Allen was dropped by agents shortly after speeding past them and before descending the stairs and entering the ballroom where Trump and other senior administration officials were sitting. But it is not clear if he fired before he was arrested. The Secret Service was injured, and officials still haven’t fully determined who did it.
- Injured agent: The Secret Service officer was “shot once in the chest,” according to the lawsuit against Allen. The officer then “pulled out his weapon and fired multiple shots at Allen, who fell to the ground and received minor injuries but was not shot.” The officer was then treated at the hospital for minor injuries. Asked why there were no suspects, Allen shot the acting police officer of Atty. General Todd Blanche said the investigation is still in the early stages as ballistics tests are yet to be conducted. “We want to fix that, so we’re still looking at that,” said Blanche at a press conference. “Regarding installing strong ballistics, I will not do that today because it is still being considered and finalized.” New court documents say the agents were seized “a Mossberg 12-gauge pump shotgun with one spent cartridge in the barrel and eight unfired cartridges in the magazine tube. Another six unfired cartridges were attached with Velcro to the detachable ammunition carrier, and the defendant had ten more unfired cartridges in a small leather bag. The defendant was also in possession of a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38 rifle with ten rounds of ammunition.”
- The motivation: The “manifesto” of gigging gives clues to a possible state of mind. “I would still go through everyone here to get to the target if it was absolutely necessary (on the basis that many people *choose* to attend the speech of a child abuser, rapist, and traitor, and therefore are complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” he wrote, according to the charging document. But the manifesto contradicts the descriptions that people who know Allen have given of the suspect. Allen is a graduate student at Caltech, and those who know him expressed shock at the allegations, saying he does not speak of violence or hold extreme views as far as they know.
What’s next
U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh, who presided over the hearing, scheduled a second hearing Thursday morning to determine whether Allen will be remanded in custody.
Times staff writers Kevin Rector and Ben Wieder contributed to this report.
