California Engineer Identified in Suspicious Shooting at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
A 31-year-old engineer and computer scientist have been identified by media reports and President Donald Trump as the suspect in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner on Saturday night.
Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, California, was arrested following the shooting at the Washington Hilton, where Trump was scheduled to deliver his remarks to a ballpark full of reporters, cabinet officials and Hilton employees. Allen’s name appeared in media reports shortly before Trump posted two photos of the suspect following his arrest. The person in the photos posted by Trump is identical to the photos of Allen.
In dramatic scenes, multiple gunshots were heard outside the football stadium, after which Trump and Vice President JD Vance were rushed to the stage by the United States Secret Service. Shortly after the shooting, it appeared briefly that the event would go on—Trump wrote “KEEP THE SHOW ON” on Truth Social—but the event was eventually shut down.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the suspect “charged” the Secret Service checkpoint at the Hilton Hotel, and was stopped by agents. Interim MPD Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was carrying “a gun, a rifle, and multiple knives.”
In a press conference at the White House following the incident, Trump said that another member of the United States Secret Service was shot but escaped serious injury with his bulletproof vest. Trump said the agent, whose name was not released, was “doing great” and “very good.” No other injuries were immediately reported.
The suspect was later taken to a local hospital “for an evaluation,” according to Carroll, who said he appeared to be “a one-man act.”
As Trump began a press conference Saturday night, he posted a photo on his Truth Social account that appeared to show the alleged shooter on the ground, his hands clasped behind his back, and a warm blanket covering his lower body.
A LITERATURE REVIEW of public information shows a seemingly minimal Internet presence associated with the Allen name. According to his LinkedIn profile, he graduated from Caltech in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering and California State University Dominguez Hills in 2025 with a master’s degree in computer science. A public photo of Allen from Caltech’s website identifies him as a member of the school’s Mechanical Engineering 72 class, described by the school as a “two-phase engineering lab” to build robots and autonomous vehicles. His name is also included in the Dominguez Hills graduation program for 2025. A search of a public facial recognition database returns only two photos, both of which are apparently of him as a graduate.
According to the alleged shooter’s LinkedIn profile, he had been employed part-time since March 2020 at C2 Education, a private company that helps students prepare for the SAT and ACT exams. In December 2024, C2 Education announced in posts on LinkedIn and Facebook that he is the company’s “Teacher of the Month for December”.
As of 2018, the alleged shooter identified himself on his LinkedIn profile as a “freelance” indie game developer. He seems to have released an “atomic fighting game” called Bohrdom on Steam in 2018. The game was promoted using accounts on YouTube and X that seem to have little following. The game’s trailer caption describes it as “a non-violent, skill-based, passive fighting game based on a chemistry model that is itself based on reality.”
C2 Education also did not immediately respond to requests for comment. When reached for comment, the Metropolitan Police Department referred WIRED to video of the public press conference.
