Just in on CNN: Suspect was armed with shotgun, handgun and knives. Plus, suspect may have been a guest at the hotel.
He is Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, CA. A grad of CalTech with a Masters in engineering and is a school teacher who is 31 yo.
A Cole Tomas Allen appears on California Institute of Technology’s mechanical engineering website page, where he appears to have been a student in about 2017. Public records show a CalTech email address for Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, California.
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Allen is reported to have earned a bachelor of science in Computer Science from California State University and a Cole Allen was listed among California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH)'s computer science graduates in the university’s May 2025 commencement program.
Allen worked as a teacher and was recently named “teacher of the month in Los Angeles County”.
Umm, did this all happen inside the venue that the dinner was being held?
I’m trying to figure how the fuck the Big Stupid Ball Room would have made anything different.
Ford started the tradition of pardoning former Presidents.
The ballroom is in a fancy hotel that has regular guests there also. He was apparently a guest. The security was guarding the ballroom but guests in the other part of the hotel could come and go.
Yes, it did.
As @hajario notes, the dinner was being held at a ballroom at the Washington Hilton, which is still an active hotel, with guests, even during the Correspondents’ Dinner. As the AP reports:
So, yes, it’s actually true that, had this been held at the White House, this particular alleged attack almost undoubtedly could not have occurred, because it would have been extremely unlikely that an attacker could have made it that close to the ballroom without already having gone through security screening.
Also, coincidentally, the 1981 assassination attempt against Ronald Reagan occurred as Reagan was leaving the same hotel.
There were a lot of government officals and VIP’s in that room. This incident could have been extremely bad.
Did I see VP Vance getting his chair yanked back by an agent? Our government could have been decapitated? Losing the President and VP in one incident is scary.
I’m relieved it was only one guy. I think several shooters could have gotten past the Secret Service and inside the ballroom.
The Wolf man is back! Blitzer never misses an opportunity to play up and include himself in a story. I strongly doubt the shooter would waste a bullet on that Prima Donna. There were too many VIP’s to target that actually mattered.
I’m willing to bet just about everyone within earshot of the gunman was thinking “is he going to shoot me?”. I know I would be.
Given the Right’s hatred of the press, specifically CNN (
Wolf), as far as we know right now, the intended target could have the press not Trump.
There is video from one of the broadcasts that shows some dude calmly taking a bit of his food while everyone around him is hiding under the tables. I want to know who that guy is.
Seems very unlikely. The press doesn’t have Secret Service level protection. If someone wanted to go after the press doing it where the President is seems like a bad idea.
I’m seeing a lot of online criticism of the secret service. It seems to me like the security worked exactly as it was supposed to. The gunman didn’t get past the perimeter. This is the reality of the president going out in public to a venue that has public guests.
Conflict happened pretty far from the attendees.
I interpreted early accounts to say that people in the ballroom heard “several loud noises,” which turned out to be the shots. If the shots were that far away, how could people in the ballroom have heard anything?
Because the “loud noises” were gunshots, and gunshots are really loud?
Students, you’ll have a substitute teacher today. Mr. Allen is unavoidably detained.
He once won a Teacher of the month award.
Link https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/26/us/white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooter-teacher-invs
Allen had a tendency to make radical statements as he became involved in left-wing activism in Los Angeles, acquired firearms and began regularly practicing at a firing range, his sister told law enforcement, according to the White House.In recent days, authorities said, that talk turned into action. He boarded a train in Los Angeles and traveled to Chicago and then DC, where he checked into the downtown hotel hosting the annual dinner featuring President Donald Trump and including other top administration officials.
I wonder if the guy took the train just to avoid airport security.
“Does that mean the test is cancelled?”
Makes sense.
In Better Call Saul, Mike took the train from Philadelphia to Albuquerque after getting shot in the shoulder.
the requirements of transporting weapons and ammunition on Amtrak is as stringent as carrying weapons in checked baggage on commercial flights, including giving Amtrak a minimum of 24 hours advance notice of intent to transport weapons.
Firearms in Checked Baggage
Amtrak accepts reservations of firearms and ammunition for carriage between Amtrak stations and on Amtrak trains within the United States that offer checked baggage service and a ticket office. Amtrak Connection bus services are not to be included in this service. The following policies are in effect:
- Notification that the passenger will be checking firearms/ammunition must be made no later than 24 hours before train departure by calling Amtrak at 800-USA-RAIL. Online reservations for firearms/ammunition are not accepted.
- The passengers must travel on the same train that is transporting the checked firearms and/or ammunition.
- All firearms and/or ammunition must be checked at least 30 minutes prior to scheduled train departure. Some larger stations require that baggage be checked earlier. Please contact your departure station for more details.
- All firearms (rifles, shotguns, handguns, taser guns, starter pistols) must be unloaded and in an approved, locked hard-sided container not exceeding 62" L x 17" W x 7" D (1575 mm x 432 mm x 178 mm). The passenger must have sole possession of the key or the combination for the lock to the container. The weight of the container may not exceed 50 lbs/23 kg.
- Smaller locked, hard-sided containers containing smaller unloaded firearms such as handguns, taser guns and starter pistols must be securely stored within a suitcase or other item of checked baggage, but the existence of such a firearm must be declared.
- All ammunition carried must be securely packed in the original manufacturer’s container; in fiber, wood, or metal boxes; or in other packaging specifically designed to carry small amounts of ammunition. The maximum weight of all ammunition and containers may not exceed 11 lbs/5 kg.
- The passenger is responsible for knowing and following all federal, state, and local firearm laws at all jurisdictions to and through which he or she will be traveling.
- All other Amtrak checked baggage policies apply, including limits on the number of pieces of checked baggage, the maximum weight of each piece (50 lbs/23 kg).
- Firearms/ammunition may not be carried in carry-on baggage; therefore, checked baggage must be available on all trains and at all stations in the passenger’s itinerary.
- At the time of check-in, passengers will be required to complete and sign a two-part Declaration Form.
- BB guns and Compressed Air Guns (to include paintball markers), are to be treated as firearms and must comply with the above firearms policy. Canisters, tanks, or other devices containing propellants must be emptied prior to checking and securely packaged within the contents of the passenger’s luggage.
Passengers failing to meet the above-mentioned requirements for checking firearms will be denied transportation.
To inquire about or begin the firearms reservation process, use the Contact Us page and select “Checked Firearms Program” as the subject and follow guidance.
The requirements are the same, but is the enforcement? It’s been a while since I’ve traveled by train, but at the time, there was basically no security, while there was plenty at airports.
I have taken the Amtrak from Santa Barbara to Solana Beach (San Diego) and back many times, most recently 2.5 years ago. I have never seen any sort of security.
The New York Times identified him as Michael Glantz, an agent with Creative Artists Agency. He said that he wasn’t afraid because of the large number of Secret Service agents, and also that because of a bad back, he wouldn’t be able to easily get under the table (or back up). “And No. 2, I’m a hygiene freak. There was no freaking way I was getting in my new tux on the dirty Hilton floor. It was not happening.”
And note that he was eating a burrata salad.