The suspect in a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner attended by President Donald Trump and his cabinet on Saturday has been identified as a teacher from California who took a train across the country to carry out his plan.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, has been named by several officials as the man apprehended by law enforcement as he tried to storm through a security screening point at the black-tie event at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.
President Trump and other top officials were whisked away from the event while hundreds of attendees sheltered under their tables as gunfire rang out.
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According to his social media and professional profiles, Allen is a teacher, engineer and videogame developer living in southern California. He legally obtained multiple guns before the attack took place, according to Bloomberg.
He is expected to face charges on Monday, including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
Here’s what we know about Allen.
A teacher from southern California
Allen lives in Torrance, California, a suburban city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area with a population of around 143,000. Torrance’s mayor, George Chen, released a statement on social medialate Saturday night in response to the reports naming Allen, saying that “one individual’s alleged actions do not define our city.”
On his LinkedIn page, Allen describes himself as a game developer, engineer, scientist, and teacher. He graduated from Caltech with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2017. In 2025, he graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills with a master’s degree in computer science.
The profile shows he was a part-time teacher at C2 Education, which specializes in college test preparation and college counseling, for over six years. A Facebook post from December 2024 seems to show Allen winning “Teacher of the Month” at C2’s Torrance office.
He also describes himself as a self-employed “indie game developer” for the past 7 years. He developed a game called “Bohrdom,” which he released on the gaming platform Steam. He describes the game on its profile as a “skill-based, non-violent asymmetrical fighting game loosely derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality.”
What was a potential motive?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC News on Sunday that law enforcement believes that the shooter was targeting Trump Administration officials, “likely including the President.”
At a press conference held at the White House soon after the shooting, President Trump described the shooter as a “lone wolf whack job.”
On Fox News Sunday morning, Trump referenced an alleged “manifesto” from Allen.
“The guy is a sick guy,” Trump said. “When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians, that’s one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred.”
“I think his sister or his brother actually was complaining about it,” Trump continued. “Even complaining to law enforcement.”
According to CBS News, citing a senior U.S. official, authorities found anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on the suspect’s social media accounts in their search, and learned that he had attended a No Kings protest in California.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department said that Allen was carrying a “shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives” when he stormed the checkpoint. He spent years legally acquiring an arsenal of firearms prior to the attack, according to Bloomberg, purchasing a shotgun eight months ago and a semi-automatic pistol in October 2023.
Officials believe that Allen traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where he stayed as a guest at the Washington Hilton Hotel, the location of the WHCA dinner each year.
Law enforcement is searching Allen’s home in California and his hotel room in D.C., while investigating his electronics, writings and interviewing family and friends, hoping to determine a clear motive.
Allen is registered to vote with no party preference, but he did donate $25 to ActBlue, a political action committee that raises funds for Democrats, in October 2024, according to the Federal Election Commission.
How the shooting unfolded
The WHCA dinner is an annual event for White House staff and the press, typically featuring comedy and a satirical speech from the president.
The ballroom hosting the annual gathering of press and White House staff was stunned into near silence when gunfire rang out just after 8:30 Saturday evening on the floor above the Correspondents’ annual dinner.
“A man charged a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of the Secret Service,” Trump told a news conference at the White House shortly after the incident. He added that one law enforcement officer was injured but was in “great shape.”
Video from the ballroom showed Secret Service agents running onto the stage before escorting the president and Vice President J.D. Vance away. Attendees took cover under their tables as gunshots rang out and a voice could be heard shouting, “Get down!”
Most people were inside the ballroom when the shooting took place, but CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said he was a few feet away when he witnessed a gunman fire a “very serious weapon” at least six times. He told CNN in an interview that the shooter “seemed to have gone through the metal detector, but he had a weapon and he was firing a weapon.”
A TIME journalist attending the event said Secret Service agents ran through the crowd to escort Trump Administration cabinet members to safety immediately after several loud noises were heard on the ballroom floor.
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