Watch: Accused WH correspondents\u2019 dinner attacker is tutor and computer programmer from California<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Bin Tang, a computer science professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills, told The Associated Press that Allen took a few of his classes before graduating.<\/p>\n
“He was a very good student indeed, always sitting in the first row of my class, paying attention, and frequently emailing me with coursework questions. Soft spoken, very polite, a good fellow. I am very shocked to see the news,” Tang wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.<\/p>\n
Allen’s online resume says he worked for the last six years at C2 Education, a company that offers admissions counseling 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n