A suspect arrested in connection with the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday has been identified by a law enforcement official as Cole Tomas Allen, a man from the Los Angeles area. Social media profiles suggest he is a Caltech graduate who works part-time as a teacher and game developer.
Authorities say Allen, about 31, lives in Torrance, California, a coastal city in the South Bay region near Los Angeles along Santa Monica Bay. Investigators believe he was a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the annual event was held, though no motive has yet been established, according to the District of Columbia police chief.
Online activity linked to Allen indicates he was named “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024 by the Torrance branch of C2 Education, a nationwide tutoring and test-preparation company. A LinkedIn profile in his name describes him as “a mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.”
The profile states he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 and a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. Caltech confirmed that an individual with that name graduated in 2017.
It also shows he has worked in recent years as a part-time instructor with C2 Education and as a self-employed game developer. Previously, he worked briefly as a mechanical engineer at IJK Controls in South Pasadena and served as a teaching assistant at Caltech. The profile references a 2016 Caltech robotics competition his team reportedly won and lists “Science and Technology” as his only cause of interest.
The Secret Service said Allen was armed with a shotgun and was taken into custody after opening fire on an agent at the Washington Hilton Hotel, just outside the ballroom where President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and several cabinet members were in attendance.
Reuters