Accused WH correspondents’ dinner attacker is tutor, computer programmer from California

Social media profiles linked to the California man arrested in a shooting incident at the White House correspondents' dinner suggest he is a highly educated tutor and amateur game developer with engineering and computer science background according to online records

Washington: Social media posts that appear to match the California man arrested Saturday in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.

A May 2025 profile photo of Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted Saturday night by President Donald Trump. The photo, posted to the social networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.

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Allen, 31, earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.

A local ABC station in Los Angeles included an interview with Allen during his senior year of college as part of a story about new technologies to help people as they age. He had developed a prototype for a new type of emergency brake for wheelchairs.

Allen contributed US$ 25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.

Allen’s online resume says he worked for the last six years at C2 Education, a company that offers admissions counselling and test preparation services to aspiring college students. A 2024 post on the company’s Facebook page listed Allen as the company’s teacher of the month. The company did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Saturday night.

Allen also posted that he had developed a video game for the Steam platform based on molecular chemistry. A post under Allen’s name said he was working to develop a new “top-down shooter” combat game set in outer space.