Federal investigators are now examining a chilling manifesto left behind by Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old suspect in the attempted attack on the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after CBS News obtained a copy showing he planned to target Trump administration officials “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.” Allen wrote that Secret Service agents, Capitol Police, National Guard troops, hotel staff and guests were not his intended targets, but said he was willing to attack them if they stood between him and administration officials. “I really hope it doesn’t come to that,” he wrote.

Allen also singled out one senior official he said he would not attack, FBI Director Kash Patel, who was attending the dinner at the Washington Hilton. In another disturbing detail, he wrote that he planned to use buckshot rather than slugs in order to “minimize casualties” by reducing penetration through walls. He later mocked the security around the hotel, writing that if he had been an Iranian agent, he could have brought in a machine gun without being noticed.

Authorities say Allen was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives when he charged through a Secret Service checkpoint outside the ballroom. The room was packed with President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Cabinet officials, lawmakers, journalists and roughly 2,600 guests. Gunfire erupted seconds later. A Secret Service officer was struck in the vest and survived; Trump and senior officials were rushed out as guests dove under tables and security teams swept the ballroom.

CBS reports that Allen sent some of his writings to family members before the attack, and that his brother alerted police. Investigators later found additional writings in Allen’s hotel room and at his home in Torrance, California. Officials say he traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington, checked into the Hilton, and is not cooperating with investigators.

Allen, a California tutor and game developer with a mechanical engineering degree from Caltech and a master’s in computer science from Cal State Dominguez Hills, is expected to face charges including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors say more charges could follow as investigators dig into motive, intent and premeditation.