US President Donald Trump has said the suspected gunman who tried to storm a gala dinner that the president attended had written a anti-Christian manifesto.
“The guy is a sick guy,” he told Fox News. “When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians.”
“His sister or his brother actually was complaining about it. You know, they were even complaining to law enforcement. He was a very troubled guy.”
The manifesto was sent to Allen’s family members shortly before the attack, a law enforcement official told Reuters.
The suspect called himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin,” the official said.
“Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes,” the manifesto read, according to the official.
Targets listed in the manifesto included administration officials – although not FBI Director Kash Patel – prioritised from highest-ranking to lowest, the official said.
The manifesto mocked the “insane” lack of security at the Washington Hilton, where the dinner was held, the official added.
“Like, the one thing that I immediately noticed walking into the hotel is the sense of arrogance,” the manifesto’s author reportedly wrote.
“I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat.”
Little was immediately known about the 31-year-old alleged shooter’s background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, near Los Angeles.
The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested. Mr Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the dinner.
“It does appear that he, he did, in fact, set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” Mr Blanche told NBC News’ Meet the Press, adding that the suspect likely travelled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington.
The suspect will be charged in federal court tomorrow with assault of a federal officer, discharging a firearm and attempting to kill a federal officer, Mr Blanche said, adding he did not know if there was an Iran connection to the attack.
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