Summary

Authorities said Cole Tomas Allen, a man from Torrance, California, was taken into custody at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington on Saturday night, an event attended by President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration. The Associated Press reported that authorities were also pursuing details about the writings he left shortly before the attack and about his background in California.

Allen is accused in the shooting at the dinner, and prosecutors are expected to seek multiple charges, including using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer, according to law enforcement officials speaking to the Associated Press. Investigators also said Allen had not previously been charged with a crime, based on a search of state and federal court databases.

The Associated Press reported that in a message sent to family members minutes before the attack, Allen described himself using the phrase “Friendly Federal Assassin” and railed against recent actions taken by the U.S. government under Trump. The AP said the message did not name Trump directly and that the writing was more than a thousand words, framed as a personal account that shifted between confession, grievance, and farewell.

According to the AP, the message included apologies to family members, co-workers, fellow travelers, and even strangers Allen said he feared could be caught in the violence. The AP also reported that the document moved between political anger, religious justifications, and responses to imagined critics, in places reading as if Allen were arguing with detractors in real time.

The Associated Press reported that Allen was arrested Saturday night while trying to rush past a security checkpoint with two firearms and knives. Law enforcement officials told the AP that Allen legally bought a .38-caliber semiautomatic pistol in October 2023 and a 12-gauge shotgun last year.

The AP also reported details from social media and public records connected to Allen’s identity. A social media profile for a man with the same name, and a photo the AP said appears to match the suspect, showed part-time work for the last six years at a company offering admissions counseling and test preparation services.

The AP reported that Allen’s social media accounts used a moniker that matched a signature on the message and that some accounts had been taken offline. A defunct Bluesky account under the same name, the AP reported, reposted commentary critical of Trump and of media members who attend the annual black-tie dinner.

In Torrance, the AP reported that voter registration records listed Allen’s home address at his parents’ house in a historic neighborhood. Public records described him as the oldest of four adult siblings, including two younger sisters and a brother, and the AP said a blue scooter was seen on the front lawn after the arrest.

The AP reported that on Sunday, neighbors described canvassing around the home as people appeared to be law enforcement agents, including one wearing an FBI sweatshirt. The AP also reported that a yard sign at the home supported a local judicial candidate endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, and that federal campaign finance records showed Allen contributed $25 in 2024 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris, listing his employer as C2 Education.

C2 Education’s social media profile, the AP reported, listed Allen as a teacher of the month in 2024. The AP said the company did not respond immediately to an email seeking comment Saturday night and that its Torrance office was closed on Sunday.

The AP reported that Allen’s LinkedIn profile photo showed him wearing a cap and gown when graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and that the photo appears to have been taken in May 2025. A computer science professor at the school, Bin Tang, wrote to the AP that Allen was a good student who sat in the first row, paid attention, and emailed with coursework questions, adding that Tang was “very shocked to see the news.”

The AP further reported that Allen earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from Caltech, according to his LinkedIn profile, and that he listed involvement in campus groups including one that used Nerf guns and a Christian student fellowship. The AP reported that Allen’s father, Thomas Allen, is listed as an elder at Grace United Reformed Church Torrance and that security guards escorted parishioners to the door during worship services and kept reporters at bay.

Separately, the AP reported that Allen posted about developing a video game on the Steam platform based on molecular chemistry and that a post under his name described work to develop a new “top-down shooter” combat game set in outer space. The AP said it limits the use of attackers’ writings and social media posts to avoid amplifying their views or encouraging copycat actions, and instead focused on the victims and the investigation.