Photo: Truth Social / DonaldTrump
It cannot be ruled out that the attacker may have been targeting Donald Trump.
The man suspected of the shooting during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, who was detained on Saturday, April 25, is a graduate of the California Institute of Technology and worked as a teacher and video game developer, Reuters reports, citing a law enforcement official.
The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen, a resident of Torrance, California. Investigators believe he was a guest at the Washington Hilton, where the event attended by President Trump was taking place.
Facebook posts believed to be linked to Allen indicate that in December 2024 he was named “Teacher of the Month” at C2 Education, a private tutoring company in Torrance that prepares students for college admissions.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Allen is described as “a mechanical engineer and computer science specialist by education, an independent video game developer by experience, and a teacher by nature.” The profile states that he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Caltech in 2017 and a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. Caltech confirmed that a person with that name graduated in 2017.
The profile also shows that Allen had been working part-time as a teacher at C2 Education in recent years while developing video games. Earlier, he worked for a year as a mechanical engineer at IJK Controls in South Pasadena and previously served as a teaching assistant at Caltech.
The U.S. Secret Service reported that the suspect was armed with a rifle, a handgun, and knives. He was detained after opening fire on a Secret Service agent near the ballroom of the hotel, where President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and several cabinet members were present.
This marked the first time Trump attended the Correspondents’ Dinner, having skipped the event during his first presidential term. He had planned to use his speech to criticize the media, which he believes treats his administration unfairly.
Commenting on the incident, Trump said he could not rule out that he himself had been the intended target. If confirmed, this would mark the fifth known attempt on his life.
