Cole Thomas Allen, the suspected gunman who stunned the nation’s top leaders by opening fire with federal officers after running through the secure perimeter of a press event in Washington late Saturday night, authorities said he had made a long trip from Southern California and had written a “manifesto” threatening Trump administration officials before the short-lived attack.
Allen, a 31-year-old Caltech graduate and high school tutor from Torrance, is believed to have taken a train to Chicago and then to D.C. before checking into the Washington Hilton with two guns he had purchased earlier, authorities said. After this he managed to cross several layers of security in the White House Correspondents’ Assn. He was escorted by armed agents before the dinner outside the ballroom where President Trump and other top federal officials were sitting.
Allen could not be reached for comment as of Sunday, nor could an attorney be identified for him.
According to Trump, Allen also wrote a “manifesto” before the attack, which he shared with the family and which his brother flagged to local law enforcement in Connecticut. New York Post reported Allen described himself in the document as a “friendly federal assassin” and revealed that he intended to kill Trump administration officials.
New London Police Deputy Chief John Perry said that around 10:30 p.m. a man came 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 saw the news of what happened in DC and realized she needed to report it.
Perry did not say what was in the email, and did not know what time it was sent. But the relative saw it around 10 p.m. and opened it, “I think he saw what was happening and he put two and two together and said I needed to go to my local PD,” Perry said.
Police officers provided the emails to the Secret Service and the FBI, he said. Trump said the document would be released, but it had not been released as of Sunday. Criminal charges are pending against the suspect and he is expected to make an initial court appearance Monday, officials said.
Late Saturday night, local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI, descended upon the Torrance neighborhood where Allen was believed to live in a home with his family, with Torrance police clearing the road and placing police tape over a section of the road. A man who answered the knock at the front door said, “Not right now,” and declined to comment further.
The foiled attack is the latest in a series of incidents in which the gunmen have come dangerously close to Trump, reigniting questions about the safety of the country’s commander in chief at a time of sharp political divisions at home and growing conflicts abroad.
A bullet struck Trump’s ear in an attempt on his life at his 2024 presidential campaign event in Butler, PA – the first of two attempts on his life during that campaign cycle. The second involved a gunman targeting the president while he was playing golf in Florida before federal agents intervened. Earlier this year, a gunman was killed after breaching security at the Presidents Club at Mar-a-Lago.
On Sunday, questions were swirling about how such a security lapse could happen again — and whether large, high-profile events for top officials are safe in a country where firearms are easy to obtain and ubiquitous.
Acting Atty. Gen. Todd Blanch said in an interview on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning that federal officials believe the suspect set out alone “to target people who work in the administration, possibly including the president,” but a motive was still being determined and evidence was still being gathered — including equipment taken from Allen and interviews with people who knew him.
“At this point, we have no connection to President Trump or any specific policy direction from Iran or anything we’re doing in this country, but we are looking into it,” he said.
Blanche also downplayed the threat he posed 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 — suggesting that Allen was essentially stopped in his tracks after breaking through a checkpoint of metal detectors and federal agents, dramatic video of which Trump posted online.
“Let’s not forget that the suspect didn’t get very far. He barely broke the perimeter,” said Blanch. “And so while it was exceptionally dangerous and it put many lives at risk and no doubt it’s something we’ll have to learn over the next few weeks, the system worked. We were safe, President Trump was safe. His Secret Service agents kept him safe. We were all safe.”
Blanch’s assessment of Allen’s previous security breach – which he said was only “by a few feet” – was disputed by some.
According to other attendees, including Times reporters, event staff were checking tickets at several points before the escalators, though not very thoroughly, descended to the metal detectors where Allen allegedly broke through armed security.
Attendees said the detectors were just outside the event hall and where the bathrooms for the event were located, and Allen was taken to the ground about 10 to 15 feet away from them. According to Blanch, gunshots – including two of the suspect’s bullets – were heard in the ballroom.
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 president in 2024.
According to his LinkedIn profile, while at Caltech, he was a teaching assistant and a member of the school’s Christian Fellowship and NERF clubs. He later studied computer science as a graduate student at CSU-Dominguez Hills.
Allen was named Teacher of the Month in December 2024 at C2 Education, which specializes in college test preparation, tutoring and academic advising. A representative from C2 Education was not immediately available for comment.
according to PostAllen himself had previously derided the security of the event in his writings, and described that when he arrived armed to check-in, he found much less security at the hotel than he expected.
“I expected there to be security cameras at every turn, security in the hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors outside. What I got (who knows, maybe they were kidding me!) was nothing. No security. Not in transportation. Not in the hotel. Not at the event,” he wrote, according to the Post. “I walk around with multiple weapons and not a single person out there considers the possibility that 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. In response to questions about whether Allen had taken Amtrak to Washington and whether his luggage would have been subjected to any security checks, Amtrak said only that it was cooperating with federal authorities.
Trump also took aim at the inadequate security at the hotel, posting video of the suspect running away from security and several photos of him being detained on the hotel floor.
Praising the federal agents who captured Allen, Trump suggested that events with top U.S. officials should be held in more secure facilities — such as the grand ballroom he is trying to build on the White House grounds after demolishing the former East Wing.
“What happened last night is the same reason why our great Army, Secret Service, law enforcement and, for different reasons, every President for the last 150 years are demanding that a larger, safer and more secure ballroom be built on the White House grounds,” Trump wrote on social media on Sunday. “This event would never have happened with the Military Top Secret Ballroom currently under construction at the White House. It can’t be built that fast!”
Weijia Jiang, president of the Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement Sunday that the group’s board “will meet to assess what happened and decide how to move forward.” He also thanked the U.S. Secret Service and other law enforcement for keeping people safe, and praised the journalists in the room for their work to inform the public about what had happened.
Los Angeles Times reporters Richard Vinton, Ben Wieder and Justin McDaniel contributed to this article.
