Cole Tomas Allen, the suspect who fired a gunshot at a security officer at White House Correspondents’ Dinner, mocked the security arrangements at the Washington Hilton hotel in a manifesto he had sent to his family minutes before the incident. He described himself as the “Friendly Federal Assassin” in the letter, and said he wanted to murder officials of the Donald Trump administration.
He wrote in the manifesto that he sensed “arrogance” in the hotel security as he walked into the premises with multiple weapons without being checked.
“Like, 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,” he was quoted as saying in the manifesto.
The accused reportedly checked in a day before the event, which was attended by US President Donald Trump.
The suspect said the security was focused on those protesting and current arrivals, and no one thought an attacker could have checked into the hotel a day before, according to the New York Post.
“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 added.
He said an Iranian agent could have brought a Ma Deuce, a nickname for the M2 Browning .50-calibre machine gun, at the venue, and no one would have noticed.
A US official told the publication that the suspect’s brother had notified the police about the manifesto.
Also read: Donald Trump Pushes ‘Ballroom’ Agenda With ‘Won’t Have Happened’ Post On Shooting
‘Will Use Buckshots, Not Slugs’
He also wrote that he intended to use “buckshot”, not slugs, to minimise deaths and injuries.
“In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls). 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 paedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said, chillingly admitting that he was prepared to kill everyone at the venue.
The US authorities claimed Donald Trump was the suspect’s main target. He is believed to have made it past the outermost layer. He shot at security personnel but was overpowered before he could wreak any more damage.
Trump later said officials believed he acted alone and was what he called a “lone wolf”.
Jeffery Carroll, interim police chief for Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters Saturday evening that the 2,300 guests at the event in the hotel’s ballroom had to pass through several additional checks to enter the room, including showing tickets to volunteers and hotel staff and passing through magnetometers manned by the Secret Service.