The suspect in Saturday night’s shooting attack at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner allegedly sent a message to family members shortly before the incident, describing himself as a “friendly federal assassin," according to sources familiar with the message who spoke to ABC News.
The suspect, identified as Cole Allen, allegedly wrote that he intended to target administration officials, ranking them from highest office to lowest, the sources said.
According to those familiar with the message, Allen also stated that dinner attendees were not his “targets," but said he “would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary."
Sources said Allen did not mention President Donald Trump by name in the message.
They added that Allen specifically wrote FBI Director Kash Patel was not a target, though no explanation was given.
Earlier Sunday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the suspect intended to kill Trump during the event.
“What was supposed to be a fun night at the @WHCA dinner with President Trump delivering jokes and celebrating free speech was hijacked by a depraved crazy person who sought to assassinate the President and kill as many top Trump administration officials as possible," Leavitt wrote in a post on social media.
“I was with President Trump and the First Lady back stage after we were quickly ushered to safety by Secret Service. President Trump was truly fearless, but as he said last night, this political violence needs to end," she added.
“Thank you to law enforcement for keeping all of us safe, including the brave agent who took a bullet to the chest and immediately moved to neutralize the shooter. Pray for our country," the post concluded.