What we know about Cole Allen, suspected White House Correspondents' dinner shooter

National What we know about Cole Allen, suspected White House Correspondents' dinner shooter April 26, 20263:05 PM ET By  Lydia Calitri ,  Steve Futterman ,  Deepa Shivaram A view of a home associated with the suspected White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter Cole Tomas Allen in Torrance, California, on April 26, 2026. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption toggle caption PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images/AFP Cole Allen, a 31-year old teacher and engineer from Torrence, California, has been identified as the man suspected of opening fire at the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night, two sources familiar with the matter told NPR. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Allen describes himself on LinkedIn as a "mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth." He got a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from CalTech in 2017 and a master's degree in computer science from California State University Dominguez Hills last May. Sponsor Message According to his LinkedIn, Allen worked as a part-time teacher at C2 Education, a tutoring service that offers testing prep for high school students. He received a "teacher of the month" award from the company in December 2024. 17-year-old Jason was one of the students Allen tutored. He said that in the few sessions he had with him, he was a good teacher and called him a "smart guy". NPR is identifying Jason only by his first name because he's a minor. "You wouldn't expect him to be plotting some crazy, evil plan to kill the president," Jason said. "He was just quirky because he was a just really smart guy." An image of suspected White House Correspondents' Dinner shooter Cole Tomas Allen, whose LinkedIn account says he graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. LinkedIn hide caption toggle caption LinkedIn In addition to teachin...