Who is Cole Allen? ABC LA interview from 2017 appears to feature Torrance, CA man arrested in Correspondents’ Dinner shooting

Video from our sister station KABC-TV in Los Angeles appears to show A Southern California man is accused of charging fees at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on SaturdayHe shot as he ran towards the hall.

The man who appears to be the suspect – 31-year-old Cole Thomas Allen of Torrance, California – Interviewed by ABC LA When he was a student at Caltech in 2017, he attended an aging conference and designed a new way to make wheelchairs safer.

“The idea with this is to prevent him from moving at all,” the man said in a 2017 interview. “Wheelchair brakes tend to lock the wheels, but not pin the chair to the ground.”

Secret Service agents stormed the theater and transported President Donald Trump, the First Lady, the Vice President and other senior officials to safety after… Shots were fired outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Saturday evening.

Federal investigators say Allen bypassed security and opened fire on a Secret Service agent. Security video shows the Secret Service quickly dealing with him.

Investigators say Allen was armed with a rifle, handgun and multiple knives.

Federal investigators are working to compile a detailed timeline of the gunman’s movements leading up to the incident.

Sources told ABC News that Allen sent a letter to his family just before the shooting, describing himself as a “friendly federal killer.”

The suspect wrote that he planned to target administration officials, giving priority from the highest to the lowest, according to sources familiar with his message.

In the letter shared with family members, Allen apparently said that although the dinner guests were not his “targets,” he would “still go through most of the people here to get to the targets if absolutely necessary.”

Sources say that Allen’s brother called police in Connecticut as soon as he saw the message, but that call came two hours after the shooting. Meanwhile, Allen’s sister told investigators that he bought his guns legally in California and kept them at his parents’ home in Torrance without their knowledge.

“It is clear, based on what we know so far, that this person was intent on doing as much harm as possible,” U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro told reporters at a news conference Saturday evening.

“We’re still looking at surveillance cameras and footage of where he walked, how he got in, and how those firearms got in,” Acting Prosecutor Todd Blanch said. “Don’t forget, the system worked. The Secret Service kept us safe, and this man was quickly captured and subdued minutes and seconds after he attempted to breach the perimeter.”

The Secret Service agent who was shot was wearing a bulletproof vest and was being treated for minor injuries.

Allen was evaluated at a hospital and is in the custody of Washington, D.C., police. He suffered a knee injury during the takedown, but is expected to be OK, law enforcement officials said.

He is scheduled to appear in court Monday on charges of using a firearm during a violent crime and assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, but prosecutors said they may add other charges.

Much of the investigation takes place at Allen’s parents’ home in Torrance. FBI agents on the scene are checking his background and looking for clues.

What we know about Cole Allen

According to his LinkedIn profile, Allen graduated in 2017 from Caltech, where he lists membership in the school’s Christian Fellowship and Nerf Club. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering before earning a master’s degree from Cal State-Dominguez Hills in 2025, the profile said.

Allen describes himself on LinkedIn as an “indie game developer” who created a video game called “Bohrdom,” which he calls an “atomic fighting game” that is “a skill-based, non-violent asymmetrical fighting game loosely derived from an alchemical paradigm that is itself loosely based on reality.” On the Steam gaming platform, one common tag used to find it was “Bullet hell”, and another was “shooter”.

According to his profile, Allen worked for C2 Education, a private company that prepares students for college entrance exams.

In a post on his profile, Allen shared that C2 Education named him “Teacher of the Month” in December 2024.

The company said in a written statement:

“We were shocked to hear about the horrific incident that occurred during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. We are fully cooperating with law enforcement to assist them in their investigation. Violence of any kind is never the answer.”

A group of high school students who were taught by Allen posted a statement late Sunday, describing him as “generally very intelligent” and “natural and friendly.”

The statement was issued by Dylan Wakayama, president of a local nonprofit called Asian American Civic Trust, who told ABC News that many of his organization’s volunteers are high school students who say they were previously tutored by Allen, including one student who said they had a session with Allen on April 14.

“According to these students, Mr. Allen was knowledgeable about a wide range of topics and was generally very intelligent,” the statement said. “They viewed him as a completely normal and friendly person in their dealings. In addition, they expressed their profound shock when they learned that he might be connected to the events of April 25.”

Wakayama told ABC News on Sunday that he did not know Allen personally.

Allen is not registered with any political party. Los Angeles County voter registration lists him as having “no party preference,” according to voter registration records viewed by ABC News.

The FBI raids the home of suspected Torrance

Eyewitness News was on the ground and They watched as FBI agents arrived outside the suspect’s home on Gramercy Street in Torrance on Saturday night. There was a very large law enforcement scene in the residential neighborhood, including FBI agents wearing tactical gear and armored vehicles.

At one point, a KABC News helicopter video showed the home’s occupants speaking with federal agents on the front porch. It was later found that the lights were focused on the second floor window and the front door.

The agents were finally able to get in just before midnight.

Before agents arrived, KABC-TV reporter Kevin Ozibek was able to knock on the door where authorities believe Allen lived. No one answered, but a neighbor said he often saw Allen riding his motorcycle in the neighborhood.

“I walked the dog out here and got caught up in this circus of helicopters, media and neighbors,” said Eric Urey, who lives nearby.

“The fact that his house is here does not define the city of Torrance in that way,” Torrance Mayor George Chin said. “The actions of one person do not represent the entire city.” He noted that Allen is not a teacher at Torrance School, but rather a teacher at a private company.

ABC News contributed to this report.