The man suspected of opening fire at officers during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday is a 31-year-old from Southern California, authorities said.
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The suspect was identified as Cole Thomas Allen, of Torrance, a federal official familiar with the case told NBC News.
Allen was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives when he rushed a security checkpoint and ran toward the ballroom where the dinner was being held, said Jeff Carroll, interim police chief for the Metropolitan Police Department.
He exchanged gunfire with law enforcement and was tackled to the ground, Carroll said.
The suspect was not hurt, while a Secret Service officer was struck in his bulletproof vest but was expected to survive, authorities said. The officer was released from a local hospital after the shooting, a source said early Sunday.
Allen’s motives in Saturday’s attack at the dinner — the first attended by President Donald Trump while in office — are unclear. Officials have said he has no criminal record and was not on the radar of law enforcement in Washington, D.C.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology, a prestigious private research university in Pasadena, California, in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. The school, commonly known as Caltech, confirmed it had a record of a student named Cole Allen who graduated in 2017.
The LinkedIn profile indicates he obtained his masters of science degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in May 2025.
After graduating from Caltech, Allen worked for a year as a mechanical engineer, before becoming an independent video game developer and later also a part-time teacher at a company dedicated to helping high schoolers get into college, according to the LinkedIn profile.
A former high school volleyball teammate described Allen as a “borderline genius” and “super stable.”
Allen attended Pacific Lutheran High School in Gardena, California, where he was known for his inquisitiveness and intellect, the former teammate told NBC News.
“Other people study hard,” said the ex-teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear it could affect his career. “He didn’t have to study. It would just come to him. He was really, really smart.”
The former teammate said Allen was especially interested in coding and computers, but he was also a very good writer and seemed to be well-versed in a number of subjects.
“Across the board, he was really knowledgeable, really curious,” the ex-teammate said.
The teammate said they lost touch with Allen once he went off to Caltech but expressed surprised that he would be the suspect in Saturday’s attack.
“He was probably the most gentle person on the team, which makes it even more shocking that he did this,” the ex-teammate said.
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said the suspect will be charged with two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and a second crime of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. She added that “many more charges” are expected to be filed.
Late Saturday local time, the FBI and Secret Service were at a home believed to be associated with Allen in Torrance, a city of around 140,000 residents in California’s South Bay, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.
The FBI was preparing to serve a search warrant related to the incident at the dinner, said Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
Saturday’s shooting rocked attendees of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an annual event attended by the Washington press corps, presidential administration staffers and celebrities.
Trump had attended the dinner before he first became president but skipped it throughout all of his first term. Saturday was the first time he was attending as president, and he was accompanied by first lady Melania Trump when the shots rang out.
They and others were seated at the head of the ballroom when video captured what sounded like at least five loud bangs before armed officers rushed in and hauled the president, first lady, Vice President JD Vance and others away while other attendees remained.
“I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray. I thought it was a tray going down,” Trump said from the White House briefing room Saturday night after the shooting.
“Melania was very cognizant, I think, of what happened,” the president said. “I think she knew immediately what happened. She was saying, ‘That’s a bad noise.’”
Pirro said the suspect is expected to be arraigned Monday in federal court.
