Suspect in Washington dinner attack spent several years acquiring guns

WASHINGTON – The man accused of storming the White House Correspondents’ Dinner spent years quietly acquiring his arsenal, purchasing a shotgun from a Torrance, California, firearms dealer eight months before the attack and a semi-automatic pistol two years earlier, according to a law enforcement intelligence profile reviewed by Bloomberg.

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, bought a Maverick 12-gauge pump-action shotgun from Turner’s Outdoorsman, a gunshop in Torrance, in August 2025 and an Armscor semi-automatic pistol from CAP Tactical Firearms in Lawndale in October 2023, the profile shows.

Allen, who earned a mechanical engineering degree from Caltech in 2017 and was pursuing a master’s degree in computer science at California State University-Dominguez Hills as recently as 2025, then travelled cross-country by rail.

He took Amtrak from Los Angeles to Chicago and then on to Washington before checking into the Washington Hilton, where he stayed for several days before the attack, Acting Attorney-General Todd Blanche said on April 26 on CBS’ Face The Nation show.

The suspect’s exact targets and motives were not clear, although he did send a lengthy manifesto to family members that was seen by Bloomberg where he appeared to blast President Donald Trump as a “traitor” who committed crimes.

He said that to minimise casualties, he would use buckshot rather than slugs. He signed the document “Friendly Federal Assassin”. 

“He had a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while,” Mr Trump told Fox News on April 26. “It was a religious thing, it was strongly anti-Christian.”

Fox News also reported that the suspect’s brother had notified police in New London, Connecticut, about the manifesto.

“His family said he had big difficulty,” Mr Trump said. “Maybe they should have reported him a little bit more strongly, probably, but it’s a hard thing to do, I guess.”

Preliminary evidence suggests Allen was targeting administration officials, Mr Blanche said, though he declined to provide specifics.

Allen is not cooperating with investigators.

The attack will likely put new scrutiny on train security. Unlike air travel, passengers are not required to declare firearms on Amtrak.

Mr Blanche said investigators have not yet determined how Allen transported the weapons across state lines but pushed back on calls to tighten protocols. 

“I don’t think the narrative here is about changing laws,” he said.

Allen faces two federal charges: using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. Additional charges are expected, Mr Blanche said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on April 27 in federal court in Washington. BLOOMBERG