Cole Tomas Allen, 31, graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and earned a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025. He is now being accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, along with allegedly planning attacks on other powerful individuals afterward.
Allen checked into his hotel on Friday, April 24, after traveling across the country by train while carrying weapons, according to a senior administration official. Authorities say Allen sent family members a note containing anti-Trump messages before the shooting.
At 8:40 p.m., Allen approached a security checkpoint on the terrace level leading to the hotel’s ballroom. Allen was seen going into another room near the Secret Service to possibly grab his guns, and after a few minutes, a dog was seen going closer to where he was to sniff him, and that’s when he ran through the magnetometer holding a long gun. U.S. Secret Service personnel assigned to the checkpoint heard a loud gunshot. A Secret Service officer, who was wearing a ballistic vest, was shot once in the chest.
Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Allen was quickly apprehended and charged with attempted assassination of the president and additional firearms violations, all felonies.
The incident spurred debate online, and many social media users described the shooting as a staged assassination attempt orchestrated by President Trump himself to draw attention to the new ballroom he is attempting to build at the White House. Pro-Trump supporters were also posting similar copy and pasted messages on the social media platform X, stating, “Tonight is one more reason for the new White House Trump Ballroom.” Another post from Nick Adams said, “BUILD THE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM NOW!”
While conspiracy theories abound on the internet, it should not detract from the fact that violence and the taking of life will never fix the mistakes or damage one person may have already caused in the world. People should be held accountable for what they say or do and should apologize for their actions. At the same time, many of the people who strongly condemn gun violence are often the same people who celebrate the death of someone they dislike through the very kind of violence they oppose.
No one could convince me that anything happening to President Trump isn’t somehow benefiting him or his administration in any way. My reasoning for this is that accounts on X were extremely quick to discuss why the ballroom building project should move forward and why he supposedly needs additional protection.
Someone had already pointed this out, but if you watch Episode 18 of the TV show “The Blacklist,” titled “Milton Bobbit,” the criminal Raymond Zeddington surrenders and offers to help the FBI capture other criminals, including terrorists and mobsters. In that episode, his team investigates a life insurance claim adjuster, played by Damian Young, who convinces terminally ill people to become contract killers in exchange for financial payouts to their families. That storyline makes me question why someone like the accused assassin who seemingly had everything going for him would suddenly want to attack the president and other top officials. It does not make much sense to me.
While other people were reacting emotionally and seeing their lives turned upside down by the situation, I kept thinking about how closely The Blacklist seems to parallel events happening in the real world. The episode portrays how powerful people may manipulate situations for their own benefit and to achieve what they want. It also feels strange to some people that all of this happened with another election approaching.
Another detail people have pointed out is that multiple shots were reportedly fired from both sides, yet only one person was hit, the Secret Service agent. Not even the shooter was hit.
Speaking on behalf of Allen, federal public defender Tezira Abe said her client “pleads not guilty to all four counts as charged,” including attempting to assassinate the president of the United States, in connection with the April 25 incident at the Washington Hilton hotel. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Jones advised the court that they plan to start producing their first tranche of discovery to the defense by the end of the week.
