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D.C. suspect’s background emerges
Man railed against Trump administration in writings BY ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner railed against Trump administration policies and referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin” in writings sent to family members minutes before an attack that authorities increasingly believe was politically motivated, according to a message reviewed by The Associated Press.
The writings, sent shortly before shots were fired Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, made repeated references to President Donald Trump without naming him directly and alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions, including U.S. strikes on boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Investigators are treating the writings, along with a trail of social media posts and interviews with family members, as some of the clearest evidence yet of the suspect’s mindset and possible motives. Authorities uncovered what
FBI agents work sunday at an address in Torrance, Calif., connected to Cole Tomas Allen, who was identified as the shooting suspect at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on saturday.
ä Accused gunman is tutor,
computer engineer. PAGE 6A ä DOJ cites shooting to press group to drop ballroom suit. PAGE 9A onelaw enforcement official described as numerous anti-Trump social media posts linked to the suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, a 31-yearold California man accused of trying to breach a security checkpoint at the dinner while armed with multiple guns and knives.
AssoCIATED PREss PHoTo By DAMIAN DoVARGANEs
ä see SUSPECT, page 6A
‘This program gave me hope’
Baton Rouge Community College industrial training initiative enters 13th year
Elayn Hunt under scrutiny after arrests, inmate deaths Warden cracks down as at least 8 staffers arrested
BY AIDAN MCCAHILL staff writer
sTAFF PHoTos By JAVIER GALLEGos
Attendees crowd around the ExxonMobil booth during Baton Rouge Community College’s open house for its North Baton Rouge Industrial Training Initiative on Tuesday. BY IANNE SALVOSA staff writer
A dozen students crowded around the ExxonMobil table at the Baton Rouge Community College North Acadian campus. Ask questions, don’t procrastinate and safety first, electrician Brittany Robinson told students, who were attending an open house for BRCC’s North Baton Rouge Industrial Training Initiative. Less than a decade ago, she was on the other side of the table. Robinson, 32, is a graduate of NBRITI, a free craft training program at BRCC geared toward north Baton Rouge. She never thought she’d be an
electrician, previously studying criminal justice at BRCC. But after she struggled to find a babysitter for her son while she was in classes, she had to drop out. “I thought it was the end of the world,” she said. But it wasn’t. While studying the electrical trade at the community college, she held an apprenticeship with ISC Constructors and soon got a job with ExxonMobil following graduation. She’s now able to provide for her son and follow in the footsteps of her father, who was also an electrician. “This program gave me hope,”
Kenneth Bergeron, Baton Rouge Community College electrical instructor, gives prospective students a tour of the electrical workshop and talks about what to expect from the program during BRCC’s open ä see PROGRAM, page 6A house on Tuesday.
A cellphone had just been seized from an inmate named Akeem Joseph and placed on the desk of a Louisiana State Police investigator at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center. Then it rang. The number traced back to Trenda Parker, a correctional officer at the same prison. She was arrested a day later, on March 25, and admitted to communicating with Joseph for weeks. A month before, a phone pulled from inmate Dishawn Branch revealed he’d been chatting over social media with an Elayn Hunt nurse, Canecia Burrell, and Sgt. Christiana Hardin, both of whom were subsequently arrested. In early March, a corrections officer named Francis Smith was arrested after investigators found she had been having sex with an inmate and had children with him. The incidents all took place shortly after Warden Keithe Turner resigned just eight months into the job. At the time, the prison had been facing increased scrutiny over a string of inmate deaths. Turner hasn’t spoken publicly about his departure, but Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary Gary Westcott offered an explanation at a February news conference. “In the end, Warden Turner felt that his family and his legacy was being targeted and tarnished unjustly by circumstances that he did not cause,” Westcott said. Westcott and other officials maintain Elayn Hunt’s death rate has been played up by the media, has been played up by the media, noting the facility has long housed a disproportionate population of old and sick inmates; about 160 of them — slightly more than 8% of the population — are over the age of 70. Yet after overall deaths at the facility hit a five-year low of 22 in 2021, they nearly doubled to 53 by 2024, before falling slightly to
ä see SCRUTINY, page 7A
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy says he’s delivered for Louisiana senator touts infrastructure projects, work and health care
BY TYLER BRIDGES staff writer
Editor’s note: This story is the first in a series of profiles of major candidates in the U.S. Senate race, to be published over the coming days. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy stood before 75 people at St. Anthony’s Gardens, a retirement community for seniors in Covington earlier this month, and spoke earnestly for 10 minutes about why he deserves another six years in Washington. He then opened it up for questions that the residents had submitted.
WEATHER HIGH 91 LOW 71 PAGE 8C
ally well” with President Donald Trump and that Trump has signed dozens of his measures into law. U.s. sENATE Cassidy highlighted several of them, including one that he said “gives states and localities exä COMING TUESDAY: JoHN FLEMING tra money to help those with addiction or serious mental health issues.” Cassidy described his decision-making process as a senator, saying it was similar to his method Cassidy peered at a note card and laughed. “Let’s start off with an easy one,” he said with a as a doctor. He collects as much information as tone that indicated it wasn’t actually an easy one. possible, then makes a decision, moves forward and doesn’t look back. “Do I regret my support for RFK Jr.?” “Most times it works,” Cassidy said. “OccasionCassidy laughed again, a little harder as he read a second question. “Do I regret my voting against ally it doesn’t.” President Trump on impeachment?” The two biggest questions confronting CasOver the next three minutes and 40 seconds, sidy as he seeks his third term are whether Cassidy didn’t directly answer either question. ä see CASSIDY, page 4A Instead, he told the crowd that he works “re-
ELECTION 2026
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U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy
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