A newly unsealed federal affidavit has shed light on the alleged motives and actions of Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old from Torrance, California, facing charges including two gun crimes and attempted assassination of the president of the United States. The seven-page document, released Monday afternoon, details how Allen reportedly sought to spare Kash Patel while targeting other administration officials.
Email Warning and Target List
According to the affidavit, Allen sent an email to family members prior to the incident, warning them of his intentions and listing administration officials as prioritized targets, with Secret Service personnel considered targets only if necessary. The email began: “Hello everybody! So I may have given a lot of people a surprise today. Let me start off by apologizing to everyone whose trust I abused. I apologize to my parents for saying I had an interview without specifying it was for ‘Most Wanted.’”
The email then outlined Allen’s alleged targets, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest,” per the affidavit. It specifically noted: “Administration officials (not including Mr. Patel): they are targets, prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”
Sequence of Events at the Washington Hilton
Allen checked into the Washington Hilton a day before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which was scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET. At 8:40 p.m. ET, he rushed through a security checkpoint while carrying a long gun, according to the federal affidavit. A Secret Service officer, identified by the initials V.G., was shot once in the chest, with the bullet striking their protective vest. The affidavit does not explicitly state that Allen fired the shot.
The officer returned fire at Allen, missing him. Allen then fell to the ground, sustaining minor injuries but not being shot. He was taken to Howard University Hospital for treatment of minor injuries before being released to law enforcement custody.
The unsealed document provides new details about the incident, highlighting the alleged targeting of administration officials and the specific exclusion of Kash Patel from the list.
