The gunman at the White House correspondents’ dinner “set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said on Sunday.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Blanche said investigators had gathered some information from the suspect’s electronic devices, and had interviewed people who know him, giving them an early sense of his apparent motive.
“We know there were some writings,” Mr. Blanche said, adding that the evidence, combined with witness interviews conducted so far, had led investigators to believe the man intended to target administration officials. That view is still “quite preliminary,” Mr. Blanche cautioned, noting that their understanding of the man’s motives could change as they learn more.
Shortly before the attack, the suspect sent messages to his relatives denouncing Trump administration policies and suggesting he intended to take violent action, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Other written material found in his hotel room contained similar statements, the person said.
Mr. Blanche, in his interview, added that the gunman was taken to a hospital for evaluation, though officials said he had not been shot in the episode on Saturday night. “I don’t think he’s cooperating with investigators,” he said.
The suspect, who is from California, took a train from Los Angeles to Chicago, and then from Chicago to Washington, where he checked into the Washington Hilton a day or two before the hotel hosted the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
The president, the vice president, and a host of senior administration officials, including Mr. Blanche, were in attendance at the dinner.
The gunman was carrying at least two weapons, described by law enforcement officials as a shotgun and a handgun, that he had bought in recent years, Mr. Blanche said.
The gunman sprinted past the first line of defense at a security checkpoint but was quickly tackled and handcuffed by Secret Service agents before he could enter the ballroom, where Mr. Trump, top officials and hundreds of journalists had gathered. One officer was shot, but his protective vest stopped the round, officials said. The authorities were still studying shell casings and other ballistic evidence to determine exactly what unfolded.
But Mr. Blanche suggested that the authorities had more reasons to believe the bullets that hit the officer came from the suspect, even as he shied away from making a definitive statement, citing a continuing investigation.
“I believe it’s from the gunman,” Mr. Blanche said on ABC’s “This Week.” “From what we know right now, that was a discharge from the suspect.”
Mr. Blanche said the shooting, while awful, showed that the security measures around the president, his officials and journalists quickly ended the threat.
“Let’s not forget that the suspect didn’t get very far. He barely broke the perimeter and by barely I mean a few feet,” he said. “The system worked. We were safe, President Trump was safe.”
Minho Kim contributed reporting.
