On the 25th (local time), the suspect who tried an armed intrusion at the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner attended by U.S. President Donald Trump was identified as Cole Thomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California.
According to reports by U.S. outlets including AP and Newsweek that day, Allen's resume was far from what one might expect of a suspect in an armed intrusion. The suspect, Allen, was a science and engineering talent in his early 30s who graduated from a prestigious U.S. institute of technology.
He entered the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2013 and received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 2017. Caltech, along with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is regarded as a top-tier science and engineering school in the United States. It is a small elite college with an undergraduate enrollment of around 1,000.
Allen wrote on his LinkedIn that during his studies he participated in the Caltech Christian Fellowship and the Nerf club. Nerf is a mock combat game played with Nerf guns—foam dart blasters made by U.S. toy company Hasbro. It is popular among science and engineering students and is an everyday pastime that often leads to engineering hobbies like modifying or boosting the performance of Nerf guns.
In 2017, just before graduating from Caltech, Allen developed a prototype emergency brake for wheelchairs and was covered by local media as an "engineering inventor for the socially vulnerable." According to his LinkedIn, he also held a research fellowship at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Last year, he received a master's degree in computer engineering from California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH).
His job was reportedly part-time teacher. Major outlets said Allen had worked since 2020 at C2 Education in the Torrance, California, area. The company is a cram school chain specializing in U.S. college entrance exams and tutoring. In Dec. 2024, he was selected as Teacher of the Month at the C2 Education Torrance branch. Torrance is close to Los Angeles (LA) Koreatown and has many Korean residents. The company's Instagram features a post about Allen's award.
He made indie games as a side job. The game he released in 2018, "Bohrdom," is a self-described "nonviolent" fighting and racing game themed on chemistry. In a description posted on the game distribution platform Steam, Allen wrote, "A bullet hell experienced as a self-propelled pinball," and priced the game at $1.99 (about 2,900 won). His LinkedIn shows Allen is currently developing a second game, "First Law." Up until just before the incident, outwardly he appeared to be a typical 30-something science and engineering office worker.
His political leanings are hard to pin down. According to Los Angeles County voter registration records, he is No Party Preference. However, on Oct. 13, 2024, he donated $25 (about 36,000 won) via the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue to then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris' campaign. The donation memo read "Harris for President." U.S. conservative outlets said this record is his only political contribution on file with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). It has not yet been disclosed whether the shooting was politically motivated.
At a briefing after the incident, law enforcement said Allen checked into the Washington Hilton hotel that day as a regular guest. He did not have a ticket to the dinner. According to some reports, he assembled a long gun in a guest room beyond the reach of hotel security. When he tried to enter the banquet hall, he rushed the Secret Service (SS) security checkpoint around 8:35 p.m. on Apr. 25 while carrying a shotgun, a handgun, and several knives. Security authorities said, "(Allen) had no prior criminal record and was not on any law enforcement watchlists."
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington, D.C., Allen is scheduled to appear in federal district court on the 27th. The provisional charges are use of a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon. President Trump, in a briefing at the White House briefing room, called Allen a "lone wolf whack job," a "villain," and a "patient," saying, "Allen attacked our Constitution."