The suspected gunman whose attack forced Donald Trump to be evacuated from the White House Correspondents' Dinner apparently sneaked in as a guest. Chaos erupted at the annual event inside the Washington Hilton Hotel ballroom after gunshots were heard. The US President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, other politicians, and hundreds of journalists were among the 2,500 attendees last night.
Suspect Identified
The suspect was identified by officials as Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Police stated that the suspect was armed with multiple weapons, including a shotgun, handgun, and knives. He stormed through a security checkpoint at the hotel and shot at a Secret Service agent at close range, but the agent was saved by his bulletproof vest. Officials added that the suspect was not on law enforcement's radar and had no criminal record.
Guest at the Hotel
Jeffrey Carroll, interim chief of police for the Metropolitan Police Department, said, 'We do believe he was a guest here at the hotel. 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 man reportedly charged at the ballroom before gunfire broke out. The gunman was tackled to the ground and was not injured but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
'Lone Wolf Whack Job'
Donald Trump posted an image of the alleged gunman being detained by police. The President suggested the suspect was working alone and called him a 'lone wolf whack job' at a press conference after the chaos.
Teacher and Video Game Developer
The suspected gunman worked as a teacher and was also a video game developer in California. A LinkedIn profile appearing to match the named suspect described the man as a part-time teacher at a test prep and tutoring company named C2 Education. The company awarded the man 'Teacher of the Month' in December 2024, according to social media posts. Allen also said he was a video game developer on his LinkedIn page and recently wrote he was 'currently developing a second game, working name First Law.' He previously published a game called Bohrdom and registered a trademark for the name back in 2018.
Highly Educated
Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering and then obtained a master's degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills. The man appeared to have been featured in a local news report from 2017 as a Caltech student for developing a prototype emergency brake for wheelchairs. A spokesperson for the university confirmed that a person with the name Cole Allen earned an undergraduate degree in 2017, according to The New York Times.
