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President Donald Trump stated this Sunday that the suspect in the shooting that occurred the night before at the White House Correspondents' Dinner was driven by a deep hatred toward Christians, based on a manifesto and information gathered by authorities following the incident.
In a telephone interview with Fox News, Trump described the attacker as a "very troubled guy" and noted that his motives had a radical religious background.
"When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That is certain. It is a strong, anti-Christian hatred," declared the leader.
The president also pointed to the responsibility of the suspect's family: "His family knew he was having difficulties. Perhaps they should have reported him with a bit more firmness. It’s probably something difficult to do, I suppose, but it’s a very, very bad situation."
The suspect is Cole Tomas Allen, 31 years old, a resident of Torrance, California, who armed himself and broke into the security checkpoint of the Secret Service at around 8:36 p.m. on Saturday, firing between five and eight shots in the lobby of the Washington Hilton hotel before being subdued and arrested.
Allen was carrying a shotgun, a pistol, and several knives at the time of his arrest.
A Secret Service agent was injured by a gunshot that was stopped by his bulletproof vest, and his complete recovery is expected.
There were no civilian casualties or fatalities in the incident, which forced the interruption of the traditional gala dinner in front of approximately 2,600 attendees.
Trump was evacuated along with First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other high-ranking officials such as Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Tulsi Gabbard, all unharmed.
The acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, confirmed in statements to NBC that the suspect likely had as his main targets Trump himself and other high-ranking government officials, based on the analysis of his electronic devices.
However, Blanche was more cautious than Trump concerning the motive, noting that the investigation had just completed its first 24 hours and that the official motive is still under analysis.
According to CBS News sources, Allen stated after his arrest that he wanted to shoot officials from the Trump administration, and his manifesto "clearly expressed his intention to attack officials from the administration."
Her social media accounts contained abundant anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric.
Allen traveled by train from Los Angeles to Washington D.C. with a stop in Chicago, and stayed at the event hotel one or two days prior to the attack.
His brother alerted the police in Connecticut about the manifesto that Allen had sent to the family before the shooting.
The federal prosecutor for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, announced the formal charges against Allen: two counts of using a firearm during a violent crime and one for assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, with more charges pending.
The suspect is under hospital custody for psychiatric evaluation and is not cooperating with the authorities.
This incident is considered the third assassination attempt against Trump in less than two years, an unprecedented figure in the presidential history of the United States, and Allen is expected to appear this Monday before a federal court in the District of Columbia to face formal charges.
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