Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, California, has been identified as the suspect in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting scare in Washington, D.C. Gunshots near the security screening area triggered panic, prompting the evacuation of US President Donald Trump and other dignitaries. The suspect was swiftly apprehended, while authorities probe how he breached high-level security.

The suspect behind the shooting scare at the high-profile White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from Torrance, California, provoking urgent questions about security lapses at one of the United States’ most tightly protected events. US President Donald Trump also shared two close-up photos on Truth Social.

He graduated from Caltech back in 2017 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and later earned a Master’s in Computer Science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.

Allen has been working part-time as a teacher at C2 Education since 2020, built his own indie video game called Bohrdrom that’s now on Steam, and even did research at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab while he was still in college.

Panic broke out at the Washington Hilton on Saturday night after multiple gunshots were heard near the magnetometer screening area, sending hundreds of journalists, politicians, and celebrities scrambling for cover. US President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and other top officials were swiftly evacuated by Secret Service agents as chaos unfolded inside the packed banquet hall.