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The man accused of opening fire at a press gala attended by US President Donald Trump has been identified as a 31-year-old mechanical engineer from California who left a manifesto described by the president as “strongly anti-Christian.”
Cole Tomas Allen, from Torrance, California, was named by multiple news media outlets, citing law enforcement sources.
The suspect is due to be arraigned in court on Monday on firearm and assault charges, officials said.
The shooting plunged the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton into chaos Saturday night.
Just hours after the incident, Trump shared a photo of the suspect handcuffed and face down on the carpeted floor of the hotel, one floor above where more than 2,000 guests had gathered.
Suspect’s background
A LinkedIn profile matching the suspect’s name and photo described Allen as a “mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.”
It listed an undergraduate degree from the California Institute of Technology, which confirmed to AFP that a person named Cole Allen graduated in 2017.
The profile also indicated he was part of the Caltech Christian Fellowship and Nerf Club. Last year, Allen posted a picture of himself wearing a graduation gown and cap, saying he was “done” with his master’s degree in computer science from California State University Dominguez Hills.
He also worked part-time as a teacher at C2 Education, a test-prep firm that named him “teacher of the month” in an Instagram post dated December 2024.
Trump calls suspect ‘sick guy’
In a phone interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump described the suspect as a “sick guy.”
“He had a lot of hatred in his heart for quite a while,” the president said.
Trump said the gunman had attempted to rush past security guards and exchanged fire with agents before being subdued.
He added that the suspect had left a manifesto, which he described as “strongly anti-Christian” without providing further details.
“My impression is he was a lone wolf,” Trump said at a press conference late Saturday.
Manifesto details emerge
The New York Post reported that Allen had sent a note to his family shortly before the attack, which they provided to investigators.
Excerpts of the message, which the Post said was obtained from an unnamed US official, expressed outrage at Trump and his administration.
The note reportedly said the shooter planned to target officials “from highest-ranking to lowest” and included apparent references to civilian deaths in the war against Iran, the president’s immigration crackdown and the scandal surrounding late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“I’m not a schoolkid blown up, or a child starved, or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration. Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes,” the note reportedly said.
It was signed “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen,” according to the Post.
A profile named “coldforce” on the BlueSky platform, which was taken offline Sunday but catalogued by the Internet Archive, showed frequent posts expressing outrage at the Trump administration.
Weapons and residence
Authorities said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives.
FBI tactical agents were seen entering a gabled two-story residence in Torrance associated with the suspect on Saturday evening, according to an AFP photographer.
The brown house in the southwestern Los Angeles suburb was cordoned off with police tape.
A neighbour told CNN that he had seen Allen recently at the property.
Allen developed an indie game called “Bohrdom,” which he described as a “skill-based, non-violent” fighting game “derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality,” according to his online profile.
