Suspected gunman at Washington press dinner identified as 31-year-old Californian

He allegedly referred to himself as "Friendly Federal Assassin' Allen" in the email, whose attachment was titled "Apology and Explanation".U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of ColumbiaU.S. Attorney's Office for the District of ColumbiaOfficials said the weapon the suspect allegedly discharged during the time of the shooting was a long gun.During Monday's news conference, acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche set out the alleged timeline.On 21 April, the suspect left his home in the Los Angeles area by train, travelling to Chicago, Blanche said. On 24 April, the eve of the dinner, he left Chicago and arrived in Washington DC. He checked into the Washington Hilton hotel and stayed overnight.On 25 April, he approached a security checkpoint at the event, and "ran through while holding a long gun", according to Blanche. Secret Service then "heard a loud gunshot", Blanche said, adding that one agent "was shot in the chest but wore a ballistic vest which worked". It is not clear who shot the agent.The weapon allegedly discharged by the suspect was a shotgun, Blanche said.In January the account posted on the social network Bluesky: "The country will continue to crash and burn until people stop asking when other people will step up." In April the account posted that Trump was a "villain" and a "desperate man".Resharing a video of Vice-President JD Vance saying that stopping funding for the war in Ukraine was one of his proudest achievements, the user wrote "he's proud that we don't uphold our commitments", before using an expletive.A Bluesky post earlier this month criticised plans by some journalists to wear white pocket squares at the White House media gala, to promote press freedom, calling them "pathetic".On Sunday, Trump told Fox News that the suspect "had a lot of hatred in his heart for a while".The suspect's usually quiet neighbourhood of Torrance was swarming with media a day after the shooting. Local residents seemed shocked. They thought he lived in the house with his parents - many said they waved to him regularly but did not know him well.Some of them pointed out that the garage's windows appear to be covered, which they had not noticed before. LinkedIn / Cole Tomas AllenCole Tomas Allen graduated from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2025, according to his LinkedInOn LinkedIn, the defendant described himself as a mechanical engineer, game developer and teacher. According to his profile, he studied mechanical engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a highly competitive university, where he took part in its Christian fellowship. He worshipped at the Pasadena United Reformed Church in the Los Angeles area, its pastor told the BBC.The accused graduated with a masters in computer science in 2025 from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and shared a photo of himself in graduation robes to LinkedIn. Bin Tang, a professor in the computer science department at Cal State, told CBS that the suspect was an exemplary student."He was a very good student indeed, always sitting in the first row of my class, paying attention, and frequently emailing me with coursework questions," Tang said, adding that the accused was "soft spoken, very polite, a good fellow"."I am very shocked to see the news," the professor added.