The man suspected of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday night has been identified as a teacher and video game developer from Southern California, CNN said in a report.

Cole Tomas Allen, 31, from Torrance, a suburb of Los Angeles, was named by law enforcement as the armed suspect detained near the venue where Donald Trump and other senior officials were present, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

A LinkedIn profile matching his identity describes him as a part-time instructor at C2 Education, a test preparation and tutoring firm.

The company recognised him as “teacher of the month” in December 2024, according to its social media posts.

The profile also indicates that Allen graduated from the California Institute of Technology in 2017 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

He later earned a master’s degree in computer science from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025.

During his time at Caltech, Allen was featured in a local news report for developing a prototype emergency braking system for wheelchairs.

Federal Election Commission records show he donated $25 to Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Allen also described himself as an independent video game developer.

He appears to have released a game titled Bohrdom on the Steam platform and registered a trademark for the name in 2018.

In addition, his profile notes that he was working on a second game, tentatively titled “First Law.”