Who is Cole Tomas Allen? What we know about White House correspondents’ dinner shooting suspect

The United States is reeling after another shooting – this time, during the prestigious White House Correspondents’ dinner.

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, is facing two firearm-related charges after opening fire near the room where Donald Trump and several other high-profile cabinet members were dining.

Allen is believed to be a teacher from California, but his motive for the shooting remains unclear.

Social media posts found that Cole was named ‘Teacher of the Month’ on December 2024 by C2 Education, a nationwide private test-preparation and tutoring service for college-bound students.

His LinkedIn describes him as a ‘mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, ​independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.’

After attending both the California Institute of Technology and California State University, he obtained a bachelor’s and a master’s degree.

Police said Allen had been armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives, but Trump shared the motive that he was acting as a ‘lone wolf’.

‘They seem to think he’s a lone wolf, and I feel that too,’ Trump said.

Allen had no criminal record and hadn’t set off any alarms for law enforcement in Washington DC, police said.

DC Metro Police Chief Jeffery W. Carroll said investigators believe Allen was staying at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the prestigious dinner had been taking place.

He added: ‘We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we’ll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there.’

The shooting unfolded just outside the vast ballroom holding thousands of dinner guests, disrupting minutes after it began an annual event meant to honour journalism and the First Amendment.

The president told reporters later that he hoped the event would be rescheduled within 30 days, though the fact that an armed man was able to rush towards the ballroom raised questions about security precautions at a dinner attended each year by senior US government officials.

Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran towards him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but is recovering, officials said.

The gunman was tackled to the ground and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.

Allen, 31, is facing two firearm-related charges, including a count of assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.

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