The gunman who opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night has been identified as Cole Allen of Torrance, Calif. — with President Trump calling him a likely “lone wolf whack job” who “looked pretty evil.”
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.
The gunfire broke out near the event’s indoor security screening area just after 8:30 p.m. — 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.
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 “teacher of the month” in December 2024, according to social media posts.
Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, according to the LinkedIn profile.
A spokeswoman for Caltech told the New York Times that a person named Cole Allen had earned an undergraduate degree in 2017, but the school did not have any further information immediately available.
Allen’s neighbor, who gave the name Jeff Smith, told The Post that “maybe he could be on the spectrum.”
Hellbound and Down 