Why did Cole Tomas Allen target Trump dinner event? Decoding the shooter’s motive

After nabbing the gunman, who stormed a dinner gala attended by US President Donald Trump, authorities had one question: what was his motive?

On Saturday (April 25), authorities arrested 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen after he forced his way through and opened fire at the highly-guarded White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where the president, First Lady Melania Trump, top officials, and hundreds of formally dressed guests were assembled.

And now, officials have found what they are calling a written manifesto in which Allen clearly stated he wanted to target officials in the Trump administration. It’s a 1,052-word document, which he signed off as Cole ‘coldforce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin Allen’. In the manifesto, the 31-year-old resident of Torrance, California, outlined his “rules of engagement” for the shooting and stated he believed it was his righteous duty to target administration officials.

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So, what exactly was in Allen’s manifesto? We have the answers.

Cole Tomas Allen — suspect in Trump dinner shooting

Before we deep dive into the manifesto left behind by Allen, let’s take a closer look at the 31-year-old’s life. The resident of Torrance is a holder of a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. A teacher of Allen’s described him as a “very good student, always sitting in the first row of my class, paying attention, and frequently emailing me with coursework questions. Soft-spoken, very polite, a good fellow”.

A LinkedIn profile under the suspect’s name describes him as a “mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth”.

He also contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.

Cole Tomas Allen, the alleged suspect in the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on the ground after being apprehended. US Secret Service agents bundled Donald Trump from the stage as shots rang out Saturday evening at a media gala, in what the president later described as an attack by a "would-be assassin." AFP

A manifesto sent to his family

According to officials, Allen, who has been detained and will be arraigned later today (April 27), sent his manifesto to his family around 10 minutes before the attack at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner being held at the Washington Hilton.

Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Allen’s brother, alarmed by the email he and other family members received, called police in Connecticut to alert them Saturday night.

Authorities said they found other writings at his home in Torrance, California, and in his 10th-floor hotel room at the Washington Hilton Hotel, where the dinner was being held.

In the manifesto sent to his family, Allen mentioned, “So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today.”

“I apologise to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for ‘Most Wanted’,” he wrote. He further apologised to his colleagues and his students for telling them he had a personal emergency, and said he expected that by the time anyone read the email, he would probably need emergency care, referring to any potential injuries as a “self-inflicted status”.

FBI agents are seen at the Washington Hilton after shots were fired during the White House Correspondents dinner in Washington, DC. AFP

Prioritising Trump officials, but excluding Kash Patel

In the document, Allen outlined the reasons for taking such a step. He also noted that he had “prioritised officials from highest-ranking to lowest”. However, he excluded FBI director Kash Patel from his hit list.

He added that law enforcement and hotel security were not his targets unless necessary. Neither were guests nor employees. However, he added that he would “go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary”.

He said that he wouldn’t target Secret Service, Capitol Police, or National Guard troops unless necessary. “I hope they are wearing body armour,” he wrote, adding, “In order to minimise casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls).”

In one section of his manifesto, Allen also explained why he was going ahead with the shooting. “I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a paedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” he wrote.

A US Secret Service agent leaves the investigation scene near a house associated with the suspected White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter in Torrance, California. AFP

In his manifesto, the gunman also included an “objection” and “rebuttal” portion. Allen referred to the Christian notion of “turning the other cheek,” and wrote, “Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up, a child starved, or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.

“Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”

He also spoke of the timing of his attack. “I need whoever thinks this way to take a couple of minutes and realise that the world isn’t about them. Do you think that when I see someone raped or murdered or abused, I should walk on by because it would be “inconvenient” for people who aren’t the victim? This was the best timing and chance of success I could come up with.”

He also referred to the biblical “yield unto Caesar” by saying, “The United States of America is ruled by the law, not by any one or several people. In so far as representatives and judges do not follow the law, no one is required to yield them anything so unlawfully ordered.”

Complaints of a lack of security at the venue

Surprisingly, Allen also spoke of the apparent lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where Trump and other dignitaries had arrived for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

“I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo. What I got (who knows, maybe they’re pranking me!) is nothing.”

The gunman further wrote, “The one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance. I walk in with multiple weapons, and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.

“The security at the event is all outside, focused on protestors and current arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before.

“Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.”

He further wrote, “Like, if I was an Iranian agent, instead of an American citizen, I could have brought a damn Ma Deuce in here and no one would have noticed s**t.”

At the end of his manifesto, Allen also referred to his state of mind before the shooting. He wrote that he felt like “throwing up”. “I want to cry for all the things I wanted to do and never will, for all the people whose trust this betrays; I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done,” he wrote in the massive document, which officials are now further investigating.

With inputs from agencies