Shooter who targeted Trump at dinner goes to US federal court

Cole Thomas Allen, the 31-year-old man suspected of shooting near the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with Donald Trump on Saturday night, will appear in federal court in Washington this Monday (27). Allen will be charged with using a firearm during a violent crime and assaulting a federal agent.

According to Washington Police Acting Chief Jeffery Carroll, Allen was “armed with a shotgun, a pistol and several knives” and was not struck by gunfire, but was taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Target was Trump and authorities, says attorney general

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said yesterday that law enforcement authorities believe the shooter targeted President Donald Trump and US government officials. “We believe, based only on a very preliminary understanding of what happened, that he was targeting members of the government,” Blanche told CBS.

Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said Allen will face two counts of using a firearm and one count of assault on a federal agent with a dangerous weapon. Other charges are also expected. Blanche added that the suspect was not “actively cooperating” with authorities.

The incident is being treated as the third attempt on Trump’s life in two years. The president was quickly removed from the scene by Secret Service agents on Saturday. On his social media, Trump published security camera footage showing the shooter trying to run past a security checkpoint one floor above the ballroom where the gala dinner was being held.

Brother alerted police before attack

According to sources heard by CBS NewsCole’s brother Thomas Allen called police late Saturday night to alert them of the intended attack. The warning came after the family received an email written by him, which implied that he would commit a violent act. The FBI is investigating the timeline of when the family notified police and when authorities were notified.

A note that authorities say was written by the man appears to express deep anger against the government and the president. Administration figures were the targets, “prioritized from the highest to the lowest,” according to a copy of the roughly 1,000-word document shared by two agents who were not authorized to release the information.

Trump claimed on Sunday that the detainee had written a “manifesto” with anti-Christian content. The suspect would also have expressed surprise at having managed to stay at the hotel that would host the event with a shotgun, a pistol and a knife, according to the document.

Suspect profile: engineer and game developer

Cole Thomas Allen is a teacher and game developer, according to law enforcement sources. He lives in Torrance, a coastal city in California, and allegedly tried to enter the room where the dinner was taking place and attacked the security post. The man even shot at an agent, and the shot hit his bulletproof vest. The officer was not seriously injured.

Allen is described as the son of an evangelical church leader and attended a Christian fellowship at college. He is the oldest of four siblings and was born in Los Angeles County. Until last Saturday night, his father was listed on social media as the leader of Grace Torrance, a Protestant church of the Reformed tradition in Torrance, California.

In 2013, Allen entered the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), an elite university in Pasadena. There, he studied mechanical engineering and graduated with a 3.0 average. In the summer of 2014, he completed an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. After graduating in 2017, he worked as a mechanical engineer, independent video game developer, and college prep tutor. In 2022, he entered California State University, Dominguez Hills, to pursue a master’s degree in computer science, completing the course in 2025.

“Very good student” and defender of Christianity

Bin Tang, a computer science professor at the university, taught Allen in several subjects. “I was very shocked to see the news,” the professor wrote in an email. “He was a very good student, always sitting in the front row, paying attention and frequently sending me questions about the activities.”

Allen was part of a Christian fraternity on the Caltech campus. One member of the group, Elizabeth Terlinden, recalled that, although he was generally quiet and studious, he was not afraid to defend his interpretation of the faith. “He was definitely a strong supporter of evangelical Christianity at the time I met him,” he told New York Times.

People close to Allen, heard by the Los Angeles Timesdescribed him as “quiet”, “highly intelligent” and “very involved” in the activities of a local church.

Legally purchased weapons and planned trip

Records shared by agents indicate that Allen purchased a pistol in October 2023 and a shotgun in August 2025. According to the note obtained by authorities, in recent days he told colleagues and students that a personal emergency would take him away from classes and told his parents that he had “an interview.”

He then took a train from Los Angeles to Washington, via Chicago, and checked into the Washington Hilton a day or two before the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Federal authorities in Los Angeles said a search warrant was served Saturday night at the suspect’s residence.

Trump criticizes security and reinforces salon project

At an impromptu White House news conference late Saturday night, Trump said he initially thought the noise was a falling tray, before realizing it was gunshots. Trump added that the hotel was not “a particularly secure facility” as questions grew about the president’s security protocols.

The Washington Hilton, the hotel where the event was held, is the place where President Ronald Reagan was attacked in 1981. Trump said on Sunday that the attempted attack reinforces the security reasons he cited for planning a huge new ballroom next to the White House, a project that faces legal challenges.

The incident occurred less than 48 hours before the start of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s four-day state visit to Washington. Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance, several cabinet members and prominent lawmakers were among the guests at the gala dinner, along with hundreds of other attendees.