(AFP) – The suspected attacker in the shooting that plunged a press gala attended by US President Donald Trump into chaos has been identified by news media as a 31-year-old California man. Just hours after the incident, Trump shared a photo of the suspect handcuffed and face down on the carpeted floor of the Washington Hilton, a floor above where over 2,000 guests had gathered for the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner. The man with brown hair and a moustache was identified via law enforcement sources as Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, California.
A LinkedIn profile with that name and a photo appearing to match the suspect said he was 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. The university confirmed to AFP in a statement that a person named Cole Allen graduated in 2017. He was part of the Caltech Christian Fellowship and Nerf Club, according to his profile.
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,” he said. The president said the gunman, who attempted to rush past security guards and exchanged fire with agents before being subdued, had left a manifesto. Trump described the manifesto as “strongly anti-Christian,” without providing details.
The New York Post reported that Allen had sent a note to his family shortly ahead of 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, and that the shooter planned to target officials “from highest-ranking to lowest.”
It 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,” the Post said. 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.
The suspect is due to be arraigned in court on Monday on firearm and assault charges, officials said. Authorities said he was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. “My impression is he was a lone wolf,” Trump said at a press conference late Saturday. 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, glowing red and blue under flashing police lights.
A neighbor told CNN that he saw Allen recently at the property. Last year, Allen uploaded a picture wearing a graduation gown and cap, saying he was “done” with his computer science master’s degree from California State University Dominguez Hills. Allen also posted about an indie game he developed called “Bohrdom,” described as a “skill-based, non-violent” fighting game “derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality.” On his LinkedIn, he said he was also a part-time teacher at a tutoring company called C2 Education. The test-prep firm named Allen as “teacher of the month” in an Instagram post dated December 2024.
© 2024 AFP
