Social media posts that appear to match the California man arrested on Saturday in the shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner show he is a highly educated tutor and amateur video game developer.

A May 2025 profile photo of Cole Tomas Allen of Torrence, California, appears to match the appearance of the man in a photo of the alleged attacker being taken into custody that was posted on Saturday night by US President Donald Trump.

The photo, posted to the professional networking site LinkedIn, shows him in a cap and gown after graduating with a master’s degree in computer science from California State University-Dominguez Hills.

Allen, 31, earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017 in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He listed his involvement there in a Christian student fellowship and a campus group that battled with Nerf guns.

A local ABC station in Los Angeles included an interview with Allen during his senior year of college as part of a story about new technologies to help people as they age. He had developed a prototype for a new type of emergency brake for wheelchairs.

Allen contributed US$25 to a Democratic Party political action committee in support of Kamala Harris for president in 2024, according to federal campaign finance records.