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Trump shooter identifies Kash Patel as only official he didn’t target

In a manifesto sent to family members roughly ten minutes before he opened fire, Allen laid out exactly who he intended to target.

By Agniv Chowdhury

Apr 27, 2026 13:54 IST

Saturday night was supposed to mark a historic occasion. It was finally time for the long-awaited return of President Donald Trump of the United States to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner after a decade.

Trump would later admit that he had been preparing to deliver some cutting remarks about the media.

Shots fired targeting Trump

Trump, his wife, and the vice president, among others in the cabinet, were whisked away to safe havens under the protection of the Secret Service personnel. Thirty-one-year-old Cole Tomas Allen was the shooter, and he had come to the Washington Hilton with not just one weapon but three.

Also Read | Will King Charles' US visit go ahead after White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting? Trump responds

That’s not all; he had even planned what he wanted to do. His manifesto to his family members, received around ten minutes before he pulled the trigger, listed down everyone he wished to take out. There was, however, one notable exclusion.

Allen gave his explanation

"This act of turning the cheek is an act when one is oneself oppressed. I am not the one who is raped in concentration camps. I am not the one who has been executed without a trial. I am not the school child killed by bombs, I am not a child dying of hunger, I am not the teenage girl molested by all these crooks in government. Turning your cheek when someone else is oppressed is not a Christian act; it is participating in the acts of the oppressor," he said.

Also Read | 'I'm not a rapist, you're horrible people': Trump snaps at reporter over shooter manifesto

Allen explained his strategy for carrying out the shooting

"To minimise casualties, I will be using buckshot instead of slugs. If it gets down to the point that I will have to go through most everyone in order to reach my target (based on the logic that all these people chose to attend the talk of a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, they too deserve what is coming their way)," he said.

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