Authorities have named the suspect detained after shots were fired close to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner featuring U.S. president Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
The incident involved a 31-year-old man armed with knives and a shotgun breaking through the security perimeter at the Hilton Washington, which was hosting the event. The suspect has since been named as Cole Tomas Allen, from Torrance, California.
Reporters have also ascertained from social media platforms that Allen graduated from Caltech and now works as a part-time teacher and computer games developer.
The DC police chief said it was likely that the suspect was a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the annual dinner was taking place. A motive has yet to be determined.
The suspect’s own Facebook postings appear to show Allen was named “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024 by the Torrance office of tutoring service C2 Education.
