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The man accused of opening fire at the Washington Hilton Hotel during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner has been identified as Cole Allen, 31, a computer scientist from Torrance, California who went from designing first-person shooter games to becoming an alleged shooter himself.
According to his LinkedIn profile and online records, Allen’s life and career trace an accomplished path as a computer scientist, engineer and independent game developer, even building a shooter role-playing game called “First Law.”
In September 2013, according to his online profile, he enrolled in the highly competitive California Institute of Technology, known as CalTech, to pursue a BS in mechanical engineering, graduating in 2017. CalTech confirmed to Fox News Digital that a student named Cole Allen graduated from the school in 2017.
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In the summer of 2014, he wrote that he landed another competitive spot as a summer undergraduate research student fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he said he contributed to astrophysics research.
That summer, his profile says, he created “First Law,” a physics-based role-playing shooter game based on realistic two-dimensional space combat. At CalTech, he also built offensive and defensive robotic systems, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He later made “Bohrdom,” a complex 2-D physics-based video game that he described as a “combination of a racing game with a bullet hell as experienced by self-propelled pinballs,” released on the popular Steam gaming platform, according to his profile.
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Beginning in March 2020, his LinkedIn profile says, he joined C2 Education, a tutoring company, enrolling at California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2022 to pursue an MS in computer science, graduating in May 2025. That school also confirmed that a person by the same name graduated with a master’s degree that year.
A Dec. 30, 2024 Facebook post from C2 Education congratulated “Cole Allen of C2 Education Torrence on being honored as December teacher of the month.” A photo matching that of Allen was attached to the post.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Allen donated $25 to Kamala Harris during the 2024 election cycle.
During a news conference late Saturday night, authorities said that Allen rushed a Secret Service checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner armed with multiple weapons. He then opened fire on a Secret Service officer, who was taken to the hospital after he was shot in his ballistic vest.
Agents fired back at Allen, who was not struck. He was also taken to the hospital.
United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told reporters at the press conference that Allen has been charged with two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon. Pirro said that more charges are expected.
President Donald Trump was whisked away from the venue by Secret Service along with First Lady Melania Trump and other high-level cabinet officials.
Trump described Allen as a “lone wolf” and a “very sick person.”
No other injuries were reported.
Fox News Digital reached out to C2 Education.
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