The DC gala gunman wrote a ‘manifesto,’ and left California before the attack, officials said

Cole Tomas Allen, the suspected gunman who screamed at top world leaders about exchanging gunfire with authorities after running to the safety of a Washington press conference late Saturday, made the long trip from Southern California and wrote a “manifesto” threatening Trump administration officials before the brief attack, officials said.

Allen, 31, a 31-year-old Caltech graduate and Torrance high school teacher, is believed to have taken a train to Chicago and then on to D.C. before checking into the Washington Hilton with two guns he had previously purchased, authorities said.

The attacker was able to bypass several layers of security at the White House Correspondents’ Assn. dinner before being escorted by armed agents outside the ballroom where President Trump and a list of other top federal officials were seated.

Allen could not be reached for comment, and his attorney was not identified as of Sunday.

According to Trump, Allen had also written a “manifesto” before the attack, which he had shared with the family and which his brother had flagged to local law enforcement in Connecticut. The New York Post reported that Allen described himself in the document as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and revealed 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 came to the lobby of the agency’s headquarters to report that he had received a disturbing email from Allen. A relative initially thought it was spam, but we saw the news about what happened in DC and felt we had to report it.

Perry would not say what the email was, nor was he sure when it was sent. But the relative said we only saw and opened it around 10 p.m. “I think he was watching what was going on and put two and two together and said I need to go to my local PD,” said Perry.

Police officials gave the email to the Secret Service and the FBI, he said. Trump said the document would be released, but it had not arrived as of Sunday. Officials say criminal charges are pending against the suspect, and he is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday.

FBI agents arrived Saturday night on the street of a Torrance home linked to Cole Thomas Allen, the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

(Robbin Goddard/Los Angeles Times)

Late Saturday, local law enforcement and the FBI descended on the Torrance area where Allen is believed to have lived at his home with his family, with Torrance police cleaning up the road and putting up police tape on part of the road. A man who answered a knock at the front door said, “Not right now,” and declined to comment further.

The foiled attack was the latest in a series of incidents in which gunmen have come dangerously close to Trump, raising questions about the head of state’s safety and security at a time of bitter political divisions at home and ongoing conflicts abroad.

Trump was shot in the ear at one of his presidential campaign events in Butler, Pa., in 2024 — the first of two attempts on his life during that campaign cycle. One involved a gunman targeting the president while he was playing golf in Florida, before federal agents intervened. Earlier this year, a gunman was killed at the president’s Mar-a-Lago club, after breaching security restrictions.

On Sunday, questions swirled about how and if that increased security was possible — and whether large, high-profile events are safe for senior officials in a nation where guns are readily available and ubiquitous.

Starring Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche, in an interview on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning, said authorities believe the suspect was out to “target people in positions of authority, probably including the president,” but that a motive was still being determined and evidence was still being gathered – including items taken from Allen and interviews with people who knew him.

“As of right now, we have no connection to any policy direction by President Trump or Iran or anything else we’re doing in this country, but we’re looking into it,” he said.

Blanche also downplayed the threat posed by Trump, other officials in the room such as Vice President JD Vance and First Lady Melania Trump, as well as hundreds of other attendees of the annual event – suggesting that Allen was stopped in his tracks shortly after making his break at the metal detector checkpoint with federal agents, a video Trump posted online.

Agents on alert after the annual White House Correspondents’ Assn. Dinner on Saturday night.

(Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

“Let’s not forget that the suspect did not get very far. He even broke the border,” said Blanche. “So even though this was incredibly dangerous and put a lot of lives at risk and no doubt that’s something we have to learn over the next few weeks, the plan worked. We were safe, President Trump was safe. His Secret Service agents kept him safe. We were all safe.”

Blanche’s assessment of the attacker’s previous breach – which he said was “a few feet” – was disputed by others.

According to some in attendance, including Times reporters, event workers were checking tickets, though not carefully, at multiple locations before the escalators that led down to the metal detectors where Allen allegedly passed armed security.

The detectors were outside the event hall and where the event bathrooms were located, and the fighter was knocked down 10 to 15 feet above them, said those who attended the event. Shots – including two from the gunman, according to Blanche – rang out in the playground.

Allen, who graduated from Caltech in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering and is registered to vote without party favoritism, made a $25 political donation earmarked for the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and challenger Trump for the 2024 presidency.

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 an undergraduate student at CSU-Dominguez Hills.

Allen was named Educator of the Month for December 2024 at C2 Education, which specializes in college test preparation, tutoring and academic advising. A representative for C2 Education could not be reached for comment.

According to the New York Post, Allen himself had mocked the event’s security in his earlier posts, describing finding much less security at the hotel than he expected when he arrived, armed, to check in.

US Secret Service agents patrol the North Lawn of the White House after a shooting outside the grounds of the White House Correspondents’ Assn. Dinner in Washington on Saturday night.

(Tom Brenner/Associated Press)

“I expected security cameras at every turn, hotel rooms with distractions, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. What I found (who knows, maybe they’re fooling me!) is nothing. No great security. No transportation. Not at the hotel. Not at the event,” he wrote, according to the Post. “I come in with a lot of weapons and no one thinks I could be a threat.”

Authorities did not specify Allen’s alleged route to DC, other than that he was traveling by train. In response to questions about whether Allen had taken Amtrak to get to Washington and whether his luggage would be subject to security checks, Amtrak said it was only cooperating with federal authorities.

Trump also confirmed that hotel security intervened, in addition to posting a video of the suspect rushing to security and several photos of him locked on the floor of the hotel.

While praising the federal agents who took down the attacker, Trump suggested that events with top US officials should be held in more secure places – like the giant ballroom he is trying to build on the grounds of the White House after demolishing the former East Wing.

“What happened last night is the reason why our great military, Secret Service, Law Enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years, DEMAND that a large, safe and secure Ballroom be built IN THIS WHITE HOUSE,” Trump wrote on social media on Sunday. “This event couldn’t happen with the Military Top Secret Ballroom being built at the White House. It can’t be built fast enough!”

Weijia Jiang, president of the writers’ union, said in a statement on Sunday that the group’s board “will meet to assess what happened and decide how to proceed.” He also thanked the US Secret Service and other law enforcement for keeping people safe, and praised the journalists in the room for jumping into work to inform the public about what happened.

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