The alleged shooter at last night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC has been named as Cole Tomas Allen, a teacher, Caltech graduate, and independent games developer. Arrested at the scene, Allen was carrying two guns and multiple knives, with the presumed intent of harming President Trump. No one was seriously hurt, although one security agent was shot at close range, saved by a bulletproof vest.
At 8:35 p.m. ET, Cole Tomas Allen is alleged to have fired shots at the Washington Hilton as he attempted to enter the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner event. The attendants, largely made up of the White House press, dove under their tables, while President Trump was escorted away by secret service agents. At 9.17 p.m. Trump posted to his Truth Social platform to say Allen “has been apprehended,” later describing him as a “lone wolf whack job.” In the time since, as people have pored over Allen’s social media to try to understand his motivations, it’s come to light that the alleged gunman is a 31-year-old who described himself on LinkedIn as a “mechanical engineer and computer scientist by degree, independent game developer by experience, teacher by birth.”
At the time of writing, Allen has one game listed on Steam, a 2018 release called Bohrdom, a multiplayer bullet-hell fighting game based on the chemical interaction of electrons. It was released to almost no attention at all, registering a peak of only two players on release, and is estimated to have sold fewer than 100 copies. In the past few hours, however, it has seen more attention as people discover the connection and check out the $2 peculiarity. Steam users are starting to add sarcastic reviews, just over 100 at the time of writing, filled with references to the Correspondents’ Dinner incident.
What Is Borhdom?
Allen describes Bohrdom on his LinkedIn page as “successfully released on Steam,” explaining that he “formulated and wrote Bohrdom’s advanced 2D elastic collision physics engine, including custom collision detection functions and the capability to accurately resolve rotational components of collisions.” The game’s store page is even more confusing, lacking a simple description but instead including hundreds of words on how it is “technically a skill-based, non-violent asymmetrical fighting game loosely derived from a chemistry model that is itself loosely based on reality,” then adding, “Alternatively, think of it as a hybrid of a bullet hell and a racing game, with the inclusion of self-propelled pinballs. If you love chemistry or physics, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you hate chemistry or physics… you’ll still probably enjoy this.”
Allen adds on LinkedIn that he is “currently developing a second game, working name ‘First Law‘.” A note on this explains that it was to be “a top-down shooter/RPG based around realistic 2-D physics-based space combat.” It was apparently once called Artifact, then Endgame, and he notes, “Name is not final.”
Ahead of his arrest, Allen was reportedly working as a part-time teacher for a test prep and tutoring company called C2, which CNN reports awarded him “teacher of the month” in December 2024.
