{"id":286695,"date":"2026-04-26T10:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/286695\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T10:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T10:16:22","slug":"cole-allen-31-year-old-california-teacher-idd-as-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/286695\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole Allen, 31-year-old California teacher, ID\u2019d as White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner shooter"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 The gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner <\/a>on Saturday night has been identified as Cole Allen of Torrance, Calif. \u2014 with President Trump calling him a likely \u201clone wolf whack job\u201d who \u201clooked pretty evil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old, identified by federal law enforcement sources, was arrested after allegedly entering the Washington Hilton hotel and charging toward the ballroom where Trump and roughly 2,500 guests had assembled.<\/p>\n

The gunfire broke out near the event\u2019s indoor security screening area just after 8:30 p.m. \u2014 as salad was being served. The Secret Service rushed Trump out of the room as members of his cabinet ducked under tables before they too were evacuated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A LinkedIn profile matching his name and photo described him as a teacher at C2 Education, a tutoring and test prep company. C2 awarded him the \u201cteacher of the month\u201d in December 2024, according to social media posts.<\/p>\n

Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, according to the LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Caltech told the New York Times<\/a> that a person named Cole Allen had earned an undergraduate degree in 2017, but the school did not have any further information immediately available.<\/p>\n

Allen\u2019s neighbor, who gave the name Jeff Smith, told The Post that \u201cmaybe he could be on the spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal Election Commission records show he donated $25 to Kamala Harris\u2019 presidential campaign in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live updates on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner<\/a><\/p>\n

Dramatic video posted on social media by Trump shows Allen opening fire and rushing toward the ballroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A law enforcement officer was shot,<\/a> with the bullet hitting his bulletproof vest.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives as he ran into that checkpoint,\u201d DC police chief Jeffrey Carroll said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point it does appear he is a lone actor, a lone gunman,\u201d Carroll said. \u201cThere does not appear to be any sort of danger to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The New York Post front cover for April 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

Allen was being charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and with assault of a federal officer, Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, said Saturday.<\/p>\n

FBI agents were later seen raiding his Torrance address.<\/p>\n

Trump hosted a press conference at the White House shortly after the incident, joined by first lady Melania Trump,<\/a> who appeared on the verge of tears when her husband mentioned prior assassination attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a tremendous amount of love and coming together I watched,\u201d the president said. \u201cI was very, very impressed by that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Witnesses<\/p>\n

Witnesses described a frantic scene inside the venue after seven to eight shots were fired. C2 Education\/Facebook<\/p>\n

\"Secret<\/p>\n

Secret Service agents rush President Trump off the dais after a shooting inside the Washington Hilton on April 25, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Trump revealed that he heard the gunshots but was not immediately aware of the danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a noise, and thought it was a tray going down,\u201d he said. \u201cWe heard that noise, and it was either a tray or a bullet. I was hoping it was a tray.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president vowed to headline a new, rescheduled correspondents\u2019 dinner within 30 days and to rework his prepared remarks, in which he said he had been ready to rip into reporters.<\/p>\n

Trump praised White House Correspondents\u2019 Association president Weijia Jiang of CBS News, with whom he sat on stage, for her leadership, prompting the briefing room to erupt in applause.<\/p>\n

Follow the latest on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner:<\/p>\n

\u201cI fought like hell to stay,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThey said, \u2018Please, sir,\u2019 because they didn\u2019t know \u2026 there was a lot of action going on, and they didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said Allen \u201cwas fast \u2014 he was running full blast\u201d and \u201ccharged from 50 yards away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president said that he doesn\u2019t believe the attack was linked to the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not going to deter me from winning the war in Iran. I don\u2019t know if that had anything to do with it. I really don\u2019t think so, based on what we know,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"Guests<\/p>\n

Guests take cover under tables after shots rang out outside the ballroom of the Washington Hilton hotel on April 25, 2026. REUTERS<\/p>\n

He also vowed to continue his hard-charging political style.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of other people, you know, you read stories when they become basket cases, to be honest with you. I\u2019m not a basket case,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to live because I want to make this country great. That\u2019s why I want to live. When you\u2019re impactful, they go after you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president declined to answer a question about how weapons were smuggled inside the hotel.<\/p>\n

\"Video<\/p>\n

Video footage captured the gunman racing through the lobby, past Secret Service agents. Donald Trump\/Truth Social<\/p>\n

Guests had to pass an outer security perimeter, where they were required to show either a ticket or an invitation to a pre-party. There was no screening for weapons except for immediately before the ballroom.<\/p>\n

Allen apparently got into the hotel by paying for a room, the DC police chief told a Post reporter.<\/p>\n

A witness told The Post that the suspect appeared to emerge from a \u201cmakeshift room\u201d near the entrance where bar carts were being stored and where \u201cthere was no security\u201d at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in that room [\u2026] he grabbed it out of a bag or something,\u201d said witness Helen Mabus, a volunteer working the event, adding that the weapon \u201cwas long\u201d and \u201cdidn\u2019t look like a typical gun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Witnesses described a frantic scene inside the venue after between four and eight shots were fired.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump speaks at a press conference at the White House after the shooting on April 25, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police stand outside the home of Cole Allen in Torrance, California, on April 25, 2026. Kevin Perkins for CA Post<\/p>\n

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who was sitting with the Washington Post, was stepped on by a Secret Service agent, a witness told The Post\u2019s Miranda Devine. Dhillon confirmed that she suffered a \u201cfacial bruise\u201d during the mayhem.<\/p>\n

An elderly man in attendance also appeared to be injured and limped out of the ballroom with assistance.<\/p>\n

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was sitting with the New York Post about 40 feet from the president, said shortly afterward that \u201cI was hoping the room hadn\u2019t been breached.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a lot of high-value targets in the room,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cThe president and vice president were both up on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted that the same hotel was \u201cwhere Reagan got shot\u201d in 1981 by John Hinckley Jr.<\/p>\n

It was not clear in the immediate aftermath of the incident what had occurred.<\/p>\n

Trump praised law enforcement for acting quickly as he revealed what happened on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite an evening in DC, Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social, where he posted a photo of the suspect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we \u2018LET THE SHOW GO ON,\u2019 but will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 The gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner on Saturday night has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[122850,7,9,122849,8,122819,122903,122902,75979,3020,87269,122904,2805],"class_list":{"0":"post-286695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-c2-education","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-institute-of-technology","12":"tag-california-news","13":"tag-cole-allen","14":"tag-correspondents","15":"tag-jeffrey-carroll","16":"tag-melania-trump","17":"tag-president-trump","18":"tag-secret-service","19":"tag-washington-hilton","20":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}