NASA Fellow, engineer, game developer…: All about Cole Thomas Allen, shooter who tried to kill US president Trump, what exactly happened?

White House Dinner Shooting: The suspect who opened fire during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington DC, attended by US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump, has been identified as Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old Caltech graduate from Torrance, California.

According to authorities, Cole, armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and several knives, opened fire at Secret Service and other law enforcement officers. A uniformed division officer was struck in his bulletproof vest during the exchange, but no guests inside the ballroom were injured, they said.

Who is Cole Thomas Allen?

Investigations revealed that Cole Thomas Allen, 31, a resident of Torrance near Los Angeles, graduated from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2017, and later earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.

The White House Dinner shooting suspect describes himself as a mechanical engineer and computer scientist who works as a part-time teacher and indie game developer, according to Allen’s LinkedIn profile.

Public records show Cole Allen Thomas worked a mechanical engineer at IJK Controls and served as a teaching assistant at Caltech, and was employed as a part-time teacher with C2 Education, a tutoring company based in the Los Angeles area. The company’s social media posts suggest Allen was awarded “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024.

Caltech alumnus, NASA Fellow; Trump dinner shooter’s impressive resume

The 31-year-old suspect was also a Caltech alumnus, associated with the university’s “Blitzkrieg Bots” robotics team that won a robotic vehicle design competition in 2016. Additionally, Allen has been described as a “NASA Fellow” as he participated in a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

According to his social media bio, Allen describes himself as a self-employed indie game developer who created games such as “Bohrdom” and “First Law”, and also developed an indie game based on molecular chemistry, which is reportedly listed on Steam.

In various social media posts, Allen said he was working on a new game, a “top-down shooter” set in outer space.

How Hilton Hotel shooting unfolded?

On Saturday (local time), a gunman stormed the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC and opened fire during White House Correspondents’ Dinner attended by US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other senior officials.

The shooting in the hotel’s banquet hall prompted Trump, Melania, Vance and others to be evacuated as guests took cover under tables.

Officers from the US Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies rushed into the hall and evacuated the banquet hall, where journalists, celebrities and national leaders were awaiting Trump’s speech.

According to officials, the shooter was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives, and was involved an altercation as he tried to gate crash the event.

Why Cole Thomas Allen opened fire at Trump?

As per the police, Cole Thomas Allen was apprehended and later told the authorities that he was targeting Trump and officials of his administration. However, officials said Allen had no previous criminal record and was not on the radar of law enforcement.

Notably, federal campaign finance records show that Cole Thomas Allen contributed $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of former VP and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in 2024.

What did Trump say?

Following the shooting, Donald Trump held a press conference, and described the attacker as a “lone wolf” and a “whack job”, and asserted that there was no reason to believe the attack was connected to the war in Iran.

“In my opinion, he was a lone wolf,” Trump said.