A California man arrested on Saturday in connection with a shooting at a White House dinner attended by former President Donald Trump has been identified as Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old resident of Torrance. Social media information indicates he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer. Partial information suggests he is a follower of Christianity. His LinkedIn profile, published in May 2025, shows him in graduation attire after earning a master’s degree in computer science, matching the image shared by Trump following the arrest.

Allen graduated in 2017 from the California Institute of Technology with a degree in mechanical engineering and was involved in a Christian student group and a campus Nerf gun competition club. A professor at California State University-Dominguez Hills described him as a polite and attentive student. Allen previously developed a prototype emergency braking system for wheelchairs and donated $25 to a Democratic political action committee supporting Kamala Harris in 2024.

He worked for six years at C2 Education, where he was named Teacher of the Month in 2024, and was developing a space-themed video game at the time of his arrest.