New details have been revealed about the alleged shooter who authorities believe targeted President Donald Trump and members of his administration at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
A 31-year-old California man identified as Cole Tomas Allen was apprehended outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton on Saturday, April 25, shortly after shots were fired during the annual event meant to celebrate freedom of the press.
Allen, who had recently won a “teacher of the year” award, was armed with a shotgun, handgun and knives, according to authorities, when he was safely taken into custody. He is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court on Monday, April 27.
One secret service agent was shot during the ordeal, though he was saved by his ballistic vest. He was released from the hospital that same evening and reportedly sent home. No one else was harmed during the incident. President Trump praised his wife, first lady Melania Trump, for her calm under pressure while they and key members of his cabinet were evacuated.
“I want to thank the first lady, that was a rather traumatic experience for her,” Trump told reporters from the White House on Saturday. “We’re not going to let anybody take over our society, we’re not going to cancel things out … we can’t do that. We wanted to stay tonight, I fought like hell to say, but it was protocol … there was a lot of action going on.”
Here’s everything to know – so far — about the alleged shooter.
The Shooter Was Allegedly Targeting President Trump and Cabinet Members
On Sunday, April 26, acting attorney general Todd Blanche shared new information about the alleged gunman, who is expected to be arraigned in federal court on Monday, April 27.
“I kept it a little general because we do believe it was administration officials,” Blanche told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, confirming the alleged shooter was targeting Trump cabinet members. “Obviously, President Trump is a member of the administration, the head of it, but, but as far as exacting threats that may have been communicated beforehand, we’re still actively investigating that evidence.”
The Shooter’s Sister Was Interviewed By Authorities
White House sources told multiple media outlets, including NPR, NBC News and CNN, that Allen’s sister had been interviewed by Secret Service agents and members of the Montgomery County, Maryland, police, claiming her brother “had a tendency to make radical statements and his rhetoric constantly referenced a plan to do ‘something’ to fix the issues with today’s world.”
The Shooter Allegedly Sent a Manifesto
President Trump acknowledged an alleged “manifesto” written by the suspected shooter, reportedly sent to his family members before the shooting took place.
“When you read his manifesto, he hates Christians, that’s one thing for sure,” the president claimed in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, going on to call the suspect a “sick guy.”
“It was a religious thing, it was strongly anti-Christian,” Trump continued. “And I don’t know if you’ve gotten it, it just got released, the manifesto.”
Us Weekly has not reviewed the alleged manifesto to corroborate the president’s claims.
Allen, an engineer and part-time teacher who lives in Torrance, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, reportedly sent the alleged manifesto to family members, apologizing to his “parents, colleagues and others for what he was about to do,” NBC News reported on Sunday. The media outlet reviewed a transcript of some of Allen’s alleged writing, provided by an unnamed senior administration official.
NBC News reported that Allen “criticized Trump without mentioning him by name” and said he did not intend to harm any “guests and hotel employees.” The alleged shooter also reportedly criticized the hotel’s “lax security.”
The Shooter’s Family Attempted to Alert Authorities
After receiving the note, Allen’s brother contacted the New London Police Department in Connecticut. The Department confirmed that they received a call around 10:49 pm EST on Sunday “by an individual who expressed concern about the incident that occurred at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner earlier in the evening.”
The Shooter Is an Engineer and Part-Time Teacher
According to NBC News, Allen was a trained engineer who once interned for NASA. He was part of a Nerf club and Christian fellowship before working in video game development and part-time teaching. He graduated from the prestigious California Institute of Technology in 2017.
In December 2024, C2 Education named Allen its “teacher of the month.”
A former Pacific Lutheran High School volleyball teammate of Allen’s described him as a “borderline genius” and “super stable.”
“Other people study hard,” the ex-teammate, who asked not to be named, told NBC News. “He didn’t have to study. It would just come to him. He was really, really smart.”
The Shooter Is Believed to Have Acted Alone
On Saturday, during an impromptu press conference after the White House Correspondents’ dinner was canceled, President Trump called Allen a “whack job” and “lone wolf.”
“He was a sick person, a very sick person,” Trump said, still wearing his tuxedo and bow-tie. “He was running full blast, and they got him before he got any further. I was very far away, he wasn’t anywhere close to breaching the doors of the ballroom. My impression is he was a lone wolf wack job.”
