Cole Tomas Allen: What we know about suspected White House Correspondents’ Dinner gunman

The man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner appeared in court Monday, where he was charged with attempting to assassinate the president.

The dinner was thrown into chaos after the suspected lone gunman, identified as Cole Tomas Allen, allegedly rushed past security and fired at least one gunshot. The suspected shooter was targeting members of the Trump administration, he wrote in a message to family members before the attack, according to court documents.

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and other members of the administration were taken from the Washington Hilton’s ballroom as guests scrambled for cover during the shocking incident. The suspect rushed security guards and opened fire, hitting a Secret Service agent. He was quickly subdued by officers and taken into custody.

No guests at the dinner were hurt. The event was subsequently canceled.

Allen, a 31-year-old computer engineer from California, has been charged with attempting to assassinate the president, as well as two weapons charges.

Here’s what we know so far:

Who is the suspected gunman?

Allen, 31, hails from Torrance, California, on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

A 2017 graduate of the highly selective California Institute of Technology, he was working as a teacher at the time of his arrest while also developing computer games. In 2019, he registered the domain name “Bohrdom” for a game he created and released on Steam. It is described as a “skill-based, non-violent asymmetrical fighting game loosely derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality.”

In 2025, he attained a master’s degree in computer science from ‌California ⁠State University at Dominguez Hills.

While a student at Caltech, Allen was a member of the school’s Christian fellowship and the Nerf club. He was featured in a 2017 photo that was posted by the school on Facebook following his graduation. In that photo, he’s holding a picture of himself as a child with a stuffed rabbit.

In December 2024, a Facebook post from private tutoring service C2 Education named Allen as “Teacher of the Month.”

On his LinkedIn page, Allen described himself as a “mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, ​independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.” He lists his “Causes” on that profile as “Science and Technology.”

Allen previously worked as a mechanical engineer for UK Controls in South Pasadena and as a teaching assistant at Caltech. In 2016, he competed in a robotics competition at the school.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said the assailant had been apprehended and posted a photo of the suspect on the ground at the hotel. Police said Allen was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.

“They seem to think he’s a lone wolf, and I feel that too,” Trump said at a press briefing after the event.

Allen was injured but was not shot. A Secret Service officer was shot but was wearing a bullet-resistant vest and survived, officials said.

Questions remain about how many shots Allen fired and how many officers discharged their weapons.

Allen sent an anti-Trump, anti-Christian manifesto to his family before opening fire, officials say

Allen is accused of sending a manifesto filled with anti-Trump and anti-Christian sentiments to family members before the shooting, officials told CBS News.

In his first interview since the shooting, President Trump called the manifesto “anti-Christian” when speaking to Fox News.

Sections from the suspect’s writings were later published by the New York Post, detailing that Allen referred to himself with the monikers, the “Friendly Federal Assassin” and “Cole coldForce.”

“Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial,” Allen allegedly wrote.

“I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when *someone else* is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”

Authorities were alerted to the manifesto by the suspect’s brother, who lives in New London, Connecticut, according to the Post.

The suspect, in an email to family prior to the attack, said he was targeting a range of officials in the administration that did not include the under-fire FBI Director Kash Patel, per court documents. The email allegedly listed Allen’s alleged targets, “prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”

Allen also laid out how he planned to stage his attack in the message, the government alleges.

“In order to minimize casualties, I will also be using buckshot rather than slugs (less penetration through walls),” he’s accused of writing in the email. “I would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most people *chose* to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist, and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“This one hits a little differently. We were all there,” Patel said Monday of the attack, adding that interviews in the investigation are ongoing, and FBI teams have collected shell casings on scene.

Allen donated to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in October 2024

Allen donated $25 to then-Vice President Kamala Harris in October 2024, a month before the presidential election, reports The Los Angeles Times.

According to FEC filings, it was his only political donation in the past 10 years. Allen was a registered voter but not a member of a political party.

Allen lived in a community surrounded by ‘lots of retired LAPD’

A neighbor of Allen’s told The LA Times,“We see them every day and we just say hi and they’re very nice. They’re peaceful people, they don’t make any noise and when they see you they say hi.”

Another neighbor said the residents had only moved into the home six months previously.

While another neighbor told The New York Times that the community is home to “lots of retired LAPD… We were told it was super-super safe.”

Local media reported a large law enforcement response at a home in Torrance believed to be associated with Allen. At one point, residents of the home could be seen talking with officers.

Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, confirmed that a search warrant was executed at the suspect’s home. Federal agents entered the home around 10:30 pm local time.

The suspect has been described as ‘very intelligent’ on the ‘nicer, quieter side’

The president of the Asian American Civic Trust, Dylan Wakayama, described Allen as “very intelligent, proficient in biology, mathematics and science”, when speaking to The Los Angeles Times.

Allen tutored high school students who were members of the AACT.

“They were completely shocked when I told them that this all went down,” Wakayama added. “I think all of us in Torrance would be shocked if this is the man who attempted to kill the president of the United States.”

How did he get a gun into the hotel?

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C, said on Monday that Allen was carrying a range of weapons, including a 12-gauge pump-action Mossberg shotgun, a .38 semi-automatic pistol as well as “at least three knives and all kinds of paraphernalia.”

“Any suggestion that he wasn’t there to do harm is absurd,” Pirro said, adding that the firearms were purchased in California, alleging that Allen had committed a crime by crossing interstate lines with them.

How the suspect got the gun near the facility remains unclear.

“We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we’ll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there,” D.C. Metro Police Chief Jeffery W. Carroll said shortly following the incident.

Pirro confirmed Monday that Allen had been staying at the Washington Hilton hotel, having made the reservation there shortly after Trump had announced his attendance at the public event on March 2. Allen had made the reservation on April 6 for three nights – from April 24 to 26.

He had traveled by train from the West Coast to Chicago on April 21, arriving there on April 23. He had arrived in the U.S. capital on April 24 and checked into the hotel at 3 p.m., after which he stayed overnight.

“He is very much aware that the president and the first lady entered the ballroom at 8 p.m. and it was at 8:40 p.m. that he made a decision to rush the ballroom,” Pirro said.

The president posted surveillance footage of the suspect allegedly running past the hotel’s security checkpoint. Trump said he did so for “transparency” and to highlight the speed with which agents reacted to the threat.

In his manifesto, the suspect allegedly mocked the hotel’s security, saying it was all focused on the perimeter of the hotel.

“Like, this level of incompetence is insane, and I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again,” he wrote in part.

Police said Allen has no criminal record and was not on law enforcement’s radar in Washington, D.C.

A Secret Service agent was shot during the incident after the suspect sprinted through the checkpoint. He was apprehended off camera, but police say he was not shot. He was stopped before he got to the ballroom, where Trump and other cabinet members were in attendance.

Allen and the Secret Service agent who was injured were both taken to a local hospital. The agent is said to be in good spirits following the incident.

What is Allen being charged with?

Allen is facing three charges: attempted presidential assassination, and two charges over allegedly transporting then firing a weapon.

Allen was arraigned on Monday in federal court at 1 p.m. local time. He did not enter a plea.

More charges are expected as the investigation continues, U.S. Attorney Pirro said Monday evening.

Allen is being held in a police jail cell around half a mile from the Hilton and will remain in federal detention until at least Thursday, when he has his next court appearance – a hearing which is scheduled for 11 a.m.

The California man could face up to life in prison if found guilty on the assassination-related charge.