WH Correspondents' Dinner shooting: FBI Director Kash Patel only US official not on suspect's 'target list'
WH Correspondents' Dinner shooting: From highest-ranking officials to lowest in the US government, from President's aides to Secret Service Agents and their families, everyone was on the suspect's target list, who opened fire during White House Correspondents' Dinner.
However surprisingly the suspect spared one name and that was FBI Director Kash Patel. In a manifesto sent to his family just 10 minutes before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, he suggested that even hotel security staff could become targets “unless they shoot at me.”
“Administration officials (not including Mr Patel) are targets, prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest,” he wrote, according to the New York Post.
While describing himself as ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ the suspect intended to target Trump administration officials ranking them from the highest level downwards.
Donald Trump said on Sunday that the man accused of trying to attack government officials was “mentally disturbed” and had already been reported to the police by his own family.
In TV interviews, Trump said the suspect—identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from Torrance, California—had written an “anti-Christian” manifesto. The incident happened at the Washington Hilton during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner and has raised concerns about the security of top US leaders.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, Trump said Allen was once religious but later turned against Christianity, calling him “a pretty sick guy.”
Officials said the manifesto included statements criticising people who stay silent in the face of oppression and also mocked what it called poor security at the Washington Hilton.
The document was reportedly sent to Allen’s family shortly before the attempted attack. He was arrested at the scene.
- With inputs from agencies
