WASHINGTON–He is a Caltech graduate once named teacher of the month. He made video games and developed a prototype for a wheelchair emergency brake.
Now, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, is the suspect in the shooting at the annualWhite House Correspondents’ Dinneron April 25, accused of embarking on a cross-country train trip and telling family members he was a "friendly federal assassin" out to target administration officials, according to authorities, including a senior law enforcement official.
“On to why I did any of this: I am a citizen of the United States of America. What my representatives do reflects on me. And I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes,” Allen wrote in a letter sent to family, published by the New York Post and confirmed by USA TODAY.
Allen, according to police, boarded a train from Los Angeles, checked into a Washington hotel that was the scene of the black-tie gala and fired a weapon outside the dinner attended by Trump and other top federal officials.
The attack threw into chaos one of Washington’s premier social events, which every year attracts some of the country’s most powerful people and the journalists who cover them. On the dais inside the massive ballroom, security agents quickly whisked Trump, first ladyMelania Trumpand Vice PresidentJD Vanceto safety as other guests in tuxedoes and evening gowns ducked under tables for cover.
The day after the shooting, about a dozen news crews camped across from a beige, two-story home in Torrance, California, linked to Allen. Neighbors weren't answering their doors. But curious pedestrians passed by, slowing to get a view of the cameras.
Professor Bin Tang, who teaches computer science at California State University, told USA TODAY in an email that Allen took a few of his classes while earning his master’s degree. He described him as a polite, soft-spoken and attentive student who would often email him with academic questions.
“I am very shocked to see the news,” Tang wrote.
Security officials evacuate U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as a possible shooter opened fire during the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 25, 2026. President Donald Trump, who was in attendance, said a shooter was apprehended in a social media post.Trump and first lady Melania Trump were evacuated out of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner minutes after it began, as attendees took cover on the floor. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Trump officials evacuate White House press dinner amid reported shooting
Security officials evacuate U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) as a possible shooter opened fire duringthe annual White House Correspondents' Association dinnerin Washington, D.C., U.S., April 25, 2026. President Donald Trump, who was in attendance, said a shooter was apprehended in a social media post.Trumpand first ladyMelania Trumpwere evacuated out of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner minutes after it began, as attendees took cover on the floor.
Police are still piecing together details about Allen and his motive. The FBI's Los Angeles field office served a court-approved search warrant at a home in Torrance just hours after the shooting, FBI Los Angeles spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. She did not comment on what was found at the home or how it was linked to the suspect.
U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said it appears the suspect was targeting Trump and members of his administration. Investigators are searching through the suspect's emails and other writings, Blanche said on "Fox News Sunday" and NBC News. He did not elaborate on what they have uncovered so far.
Federal authorities leading investigation
The FBI is leading the criminal probe while the Secret Service is focusing on the suspect's behavioral profile, a senior law enforcement official briefed on the bicoastal investigation told USA TODAY. That includes what triggered the suspect, what brought him to Washington and whether there might be any potential copycats who might want to do follow-on attacks, as is often the case after presidential assassination attempt, the official said.
Armed with subpoenas, the Secret Service and other agencies are intensively focusing on what might have caused the suspect to book a room at the Washington Hilton, less than two miles north of the White House, on the night of the annual dinner.
Gunpowder in the air:A fancy press dinner with Trump, then shots fired
Allen sent his note by text or email to family members before the gala, saying he intended to try and kill Trump administration officials, a senior law enforcement official told USA TODAY. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, and said authorities have already interviewed Allen's brother and at least one other family member.
In the letter the New York Post published, which the official said Allen scheduled to send just minutes before the shooting, he described his “targets," including “administration officials … prioritized from highest-ranking to lowest.”
So far, it wasn’t just one thing but a totality of circumstances that appears to have upset the suspected shooter, a senior law enforcement official said, including the Iran war, domestic political issues and the Trump administration’s stance on LGBTQ issues. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, but told USA TODAY the FBI has found other writings by Allen that authorities are now reviewing, some of which expressed empathetic views on transgender issues.
Based on what they have found to date, authorities are widening the circle of people to interview, including more family members and Allen’s co-workers, the official said, to build out a comprehensive profile of the suspect.
Allen does not name Trump specifically in his writings, the official said.
Trump told Fox News that the suspect's writings reviewed by law enforcement showed he was a "troubled guy" motivated by religious hatred. His family had raised concerns about him to law enforcement before the correspondents' dinner shooting, Trump said.
"The guy is a sick guy, when you read his manifesto," Trump said. "He hates Christians, that's one thing for sure. He hates Christians, a hatred."
Allen's footprint on social media provides some insight into his background. He listed his employment as a teacher in a $25 donation to then-Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024. He is registered to vote in California as "no party preference."
Advertisement
Allen posted on LinkedIn he received his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 and his master's degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025.
Kathy Svitil, a spokesperson for the California Institute of Technology, confirmed a record of an undergraduate student by the name of Cole Allen who graduated in 2017, but declined to release more information.
Lilly McKibbin, a spokesperson for California State, said a student named Cole Allen graduated with a master’s degree in 2025 but declined to confirm he was the suspect identified in the shooting.
His LinkedIn profile indicated he’s been a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a national tutoring and college counseling provider located in Torrance. In December 2024, C2 named him the "Teacher of the Month" and posted a photo on the group’s social media. Before that job, Allen listed his employment as a self-employed video game developer. The PC game he developed was listed on the website Steam for download tied to his name.
Before that, Allen says he worked for a year as an engineer at IJK Controls based in South Pasadena. And before that, he was a teaching assistant at the California Institute of Technology, according to his LinkedIn.
In 2017, Allen spoke to KABC-TV about the prototype he developed for a wheelchair emergency brake.
"The wheelchair brakes tend to lock the wheels, but don't lock the chair to the ground. But with this device, that will prevent the chair from skidding at all," he told the TV station.
Shooting raises security questions
The shooting in Washington has also raised questions about whether more security precautions should have been taken for the dinner.
Trump, speaking at a White House news conference shortly after the shooting, said the hotel wasn’t “a particularly secure building” and that the lack of security underscored the need for his plans to build a ballroom on the White House grounds.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, who attended the dinner, told CNN that security protections at the hotel were “woefully insufficient.”
A hotel operator confirmed to USA TODAY that Allen had booked a room and was staying there the night of the event. The Secret Service, working with local police, had conducted site reviews of the sprawling complex and created a security perimeter at the event to make sure no one suspicious could get near the president and other VIP attendees.
Because he had booked a room at the hotel, Allen had access to the proximity of the high-profile event without requiring a ticket. But that did not get him access to the ballroom area where the event was taking place. Only ticketholders were allowed to pass through magnetometers to get to that point.
Authorities are not allowed to conduct background checks on all people staying at the hotel the night of the dinner unless it has a reason to believe they are committing or intending to commit a crime, said a senior law enforcement official who was briefed on the investigation. The official cited privacy concerns and other legal restrictions.
Security officials tackled the suspect in a lobby before he made it to the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, where the annualWhite House Correspondents’ Dinnerhad started just minutes earlier on Saturday night, April 25. No one inside the ballroom was hurt. A Secret Service agent, according to police, was shot outside the ballroom but was saved by the bulletproof vest he was wearing.
Criticism of the Secret Service effort to secure the building was unwarranted, given that the suspect was apprehended immediately after sprinting through a magnetometer — and he never got close to Trump or other VIPs in the ballroom, a senior law enforcement official said. The agency was not responsible for making sure no one with a weapon got into the hotel, just to prevent people from getting within shooting range of those inside the dinner. In that way, he told USA TODAY, the protective model was effective and worked as designed.
Trump praised the Secret Service for its swift action and from keeping the gunman from getting inside the ballroom.
“They stopped him cold,” he said in an interview on Fox News.
Allen himself hinted at the security at the hotel in the letter published by the New York Post and confirmed by USA TODAY.
"I walk in with multiple weapons and not a single person there considers the possibility that I could be a threat," he wrote, according to the letter the New York Post published.
"The security at the event is all outside, focused on protestors and current arrivals, because apparently no one thought about what happens if someone checks in the day before."
Contributing: Christopher Cann,Chris Kenning
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:FBI on cross-country probe into White House dinner suspect. Who is he?
Post a Comment