Cole Tomas Allen had been planning Saturday night for some time, according to investigators.
Before he sprinted past security at the Washington Hilton in all black, shotgun in hand, he reportedly sent his family a manifesto, identified himself as the Friendly Federal Assassin and named the administration officials he intended to target in order of rank.
The manifesto clearly stated Allen wanted to target administration officials and indicated he was not targeting law enforcement. His brother notified the New London Police Department minutes before the shooting, passing on what Allen had sent.
Trump addressed the communication breakdown on Sunday morning: “I heard about the New London situation, and I wish they would have told us about it a little bit, but it is what it is.”
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The document itself was not the writing of someone in acute crisis. It was methodical and carefully reasoned.
Allen cited Christian morality to justify violence, framed his targets as complicit in crimes against detained migrants and executed children, and noted he had chosen buckshot over slugs specifically to reduce collateral damage through walls.
The manifesto read: “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. Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
He also wrote: “I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary, on the basis that most people chose to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit, but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Allen, 31, was an educator from Torrance, California, with a mechanical engineering degree from Caltech and a master’s in computer science from California State University, completed in 2025.
He had purchased the shotgun used in the attack in August 2025 and traveled cross-country by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington, checking into the Washington Hilton the day before the dinner.
His computer science professor described him as soft spoken, polite and a good student who always sat in the front row.
Authorities found anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric across his social media accounts.
A senior official confirmed he was reportedly part of a group called The Wide Awakes and had attended a No Kings protest in California. He had contributed $25 to a Democratic PAC supporting Kamala Harris in 2024 and was not cooperating with investigators, though people who knew him were speaking with law enforcement.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
