The suspect arrested in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting on Saturday has been identified by a law enforcement official and in media reports.
He is named as Cole Tomas Allen, a Los Angeles-area man who appears from social media sites to be a Caltech graduate working as a part-time teacher and game developer.
According to US official, Allen, who is roughly 31 years of age, is a resident of Torrance, California, a coastal town that is part of the South Bay area next to Los Angeles.
Investigators have yet to establish a motive for the attack, according to the chief of the District of Columbia police department.
The suspect is believed to have been a guest at the Washington Hilton hotel, where the annual dinner was taking place.
The Secret Service said the suspect was armed with a shotgun and was taken into custody after opening fire at an agent in the Washington Hilton Hotel, outside the ballroom where the event was attended by President Donald Trump, his wife Melania, Vice President JD Vance and several cabinet secretaries.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the assailant had been apprehended and posted a photo of the suspect on the ground at the hotel. Police said Allen was armed with a shotgun, handgun and multiple knives.
The suspect faces charges including assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, but acting attorney general Todd Blanche said additional charges will be filed.
“My impression is he was a lone wolf whack job. These are crazy people,” Trump said at a press briefing after the event.
The president posted pictures on his Truth Social platform of the alleged assailant handcuffed on the ground following his detention.
The president praised the secret service and said the gunman was not close to breaching the ballroom where he sat on stage at the time of the incident.
He added: “I saw a room that was just totally unified. It was, in one way, very beautiful, a very beautiful thing.
“To see a man charge a security checkpoint armed with multiple weapons, and he was taken down by some very brave members of secret service, and they acted very quickly.”
He added: “It is always shocking when something like this happens.”
Washington mayor Muriel Bowser said she had “no reason” to believe anyone else was involved.
