{"id":45147,"date":"2026-04-26T20:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/45147\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T20:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T20:21:21","slug":"accused-correspondents-dinner-attacker-is-a-tutor-from-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/45147\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused correspondents\u2019 dinner attacker is a tutor from California"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) \u2014 The California man arrested in the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner<\/a> is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer opposed to the policies of President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A photo of Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California, posted to social media last year shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master\u2019s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. His face appears to match the appearance of the alleged attacker taken into custody at the dinner Saturday night in Washington that was attended by Trump and top members of his administration.<\/p>\n

In writings sent to family members minutes before the attack, the 31-year-old described himself as \u201cFriendly Federal Assassin\u201d and railed against recent actions taken by the U.S. government under Trump, though he did not name the Republican president directly, according to a law enforcement official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

A search of state and federal court databases showed no indication Allen had ever previously been charged with a crime. <\/p>\n

Voter registration records from California lists Allen\u2019s home address as his parent\u2019s house on a tree-lined street in one of the most historic neighborhoods in Torrance, a city within the Los Angeles metro area. Public records show he is the oldest of four adult siblings, with two younger sisters and a brother.<\/p>\n

Two cars were parked in the driveway Sunday morning. A blue scooter that a neighbor said Allen rode was on the front lawn. No one answered the door when an Associated Press reporter knocked.<\/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. A yard sign displayed at the family home supported a local candidate for judge who was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officials told the AP that Cole Allen legally bought a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol in October 2023 and a 12-gauge shotgun last year.<\/p>\n

Allen earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, according to his profile on the social networking site LinkedIn. He also listed his involvement there in a campus group that battled with Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship.<\/p>\n

The suspect\u2019s father, Thomas Allen, is listed as an elder at Grace United Reformed Church Torrance. The webpage for the congregation describes it as a \u201cBible-believing church\u201d following the \u201cinfallible Word of God.\u201d Security guards posted at the sanctuary during worship services on Sunday escorted parishioners to the door and kept reporters at bay.<\/p>\n

Bin Tang, a computer science professor at California State University, Dominguez Hills, told the AP that Allen took a few of his classes before graduating last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe 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,\u201d 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<\/a> 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\u2019s 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\u2019s Facebook page listed Allen as the company\u2019s 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\u2019s name said he was working to develop a new \u201ctop-down shooter\u201d combat game set in outer space.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Biesecker and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) \u2014 The California man arrested in the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4216,544,8356,3372,17101,12,9995,28571,1665,7167,6836,51,28570,28154,74,6844,681,3773,4448,1194],"class_list":{"0":"post-45147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-trump","8":"tag-ap-top-news","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-dc-wire","11":"tag-district-of-columbia","12":"tag-domestic-news","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-engineering","15":"tag-gaming","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-government-policy","18":"tag-kamala-harris","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-thomas-allen","21":"tag-torrance","22":"tag-trump","23":"tag-u-s-democratic-party","24":"tag-u-s-news","25":"tag-united-states-government","26":"tag-violence","27":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116472871891038390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}