(The Hill) – Cole Allen has been identified as the suspect in the shooting at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner by multiple outlets after the Saturday incident at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Allen, 31, is expected to be arraigned on Monday on two preliminary charges that include using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
Campaign finance records show Allen once donated $25 to a Democratic Party political action committee to back former Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential bid, as reported by The Associated Press.
DC shooting suspect left writings, family had raised concerns to police: Trump
Authorities are still investigating the alleged gunman’s motive for opening fire at the annual event with President Trump and first lady Melania Trump in attendance.
Allen – who was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives, according to police – traveled across the country before the event and is believed to have been targeting members of the Trump administration, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday.
Members of law enforcement control shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Members of law enforcement control shooting suspect Cole Tomas Allen during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Law enforcement officers respond to reports of a shooting during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington, DC, US on Saturday, April 25, 2026. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were evacuated from the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner event in Washington Saturday following a security incident at the venue. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Donald Trump, left, is seated on stage as U.S. Secret Service agents respond to take him from the ballroom after a shooting incident outside the ballroom during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
U.S. Secret Service agents surround President Donald Trump, third from left, as he is taken from the stage after a shooting incident outside the ballroom during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
U.S. Secret Service agents surround President Donald Trump before he was taken from the stage after a shooting incident outside the ballroom during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Agents draw their guns after loud bangs were heard during the White House Correspondents’ dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on April 25, 2026. President Trump is attending the annual gala of the political press for the first time while in office. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Blanche also said officials believe the suspect traveled by train from California to Chicago and then on to Washington, where in recent days he checked in as a guest to the hotel where one of Washington’s glitziest events was being held Saturday night.
Law enforcement officials who have examined the gunman’s electronic devices and his writings preliminarily believe he intended to target administration members in attendance at the dinner. He attempted to charge into the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton but was tackled to the ground in a chaotic scene that resulted in shots being fired, President Donald Trump being hurried off the stage and guests ducking for cover beneath their tables.
“It does appear that he did in fact set out to target folks who work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The suspect is believed to have purchased the firearms he carried within the last couple of years, Blanche said, adding that he is not being cooperative.
“He failed,” Blanche said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Law enforcement did their jobs.”
Trump was the first person to formally brief reporters after the live shooter incident and ultimately shared two separate posts on Truth Social with photos of the suspected shooter with his wrists bound behind his back, shirtless and laying face down on the ground.
Video posted by Trump showed the suspect running past security barricades as Secret Service agents ran toward him. One officer was shot in a bullet-resistant vest but was recovering, officials said. The gunman was taken into custody and was not injured, but was being evaluated at a hospital, police said.
Allen is a 31-year-old from Torrance, California, and is a professional game designer with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills, according to the AP.
He earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at California Institute of Technology, also known as CalTech. Over the course of his professional career, Allen had developed numerous video games that allow users to shoot and attack.
One of Allen’s games, known as “First Law,” is a 2D Newtonian physics-based platformer released on Steam in 2024. Another is labeled “Bohrdom,” which Allen described as a “combination of a racing game with a bullet hell as experienced by self-propelled pinballs,” per Fox News.
The Hill has not independently verified Allen’s identity. The Department of Justice and FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
