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Cole Tomas Allen: Fact-checking claims about White House correspondents' dinner shooting suspect's wife and marriage
Cole Tomas Allen of Torrance, Los Angeles is the shooting suspect at the White House correspondents' dinner where President Donald Trump was present.
Cole Tomas Allen, of Torrance, Los Angeles, has been arrested as the shooting suspect after the incident at the White House correspondents' dinner. The 31-year-old attempted an attack at the event where President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance was present, among several members of the Trump administration.
Following Allen's arrest, a lot of information has emerged about him, including his educational and professional background, and his family. However, now a claim has gone viral on social media that Allen was married. To be sure, these claims have been made by unverified profiles.
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They allege that Allen is married to one Priyanka Rao, and the posts claim she's an Indian. An alleged photo of Rao's passport has also been shared alongside an alleged image of Allen and her together.
“31 year old Cole Tomas Allen, with his Indian wife, Priyanka Rao. Why do they always have three names?,” one person wrote, sharing the alleged photos.
Fact-checking Cole Tomas Allen married claims
Several profiles including one which is popular among MAGA circles – 0HOUR1 – posted about Allen's alleged wife. However, there is nothing to suggest that the alleged shooter was married.
The image of the passport shared appears to be a doctored image. On close inspection, it shows that the nationality of Allen's alleged wife is also listed as Cole Tomas Allen – which is not possible.
No mainstream media coverage has indicated that Allen was married, and makes no mention of any serious relationship either. As per a NBC report, Allen lived with his parents.
Paul Thompson, one of Allen’s neighbors, told NBC that Allen lived with his parents and rode a blue moped around the area. Noting Allen was “not necessarily friendly,” Thompson added that he had not noticed anything off about him. Further, the person said that that Allen’s “parents are nice, friendly people,” and the “father especially knows everybody.”
Allen’s sister also confirmed that he had purchased two handguns and a shotgun from CAP Tactical Firearms and kept them stored at their parents’ home, the publication further reported.
Grok, the AI chatbot, was asked about the image as well and replied “The man in your photo matches Cole Allen, the suspected WHCD shooter. No news reports mention a wife, girlfriend, or significant other—only his parents, sister, and brother in Torrance, CA. It could be an older photo, a friend, or unreported. Interesting point on the lack of details there.”
Cole Tomas Allen motive
While details about Allen continue to emerge many are also curious as to his motive. It has now come to light that the Los Angeles man had sent writings to his family members before the attack, where he referred to himself as a “Friendly Federal Assassin”.
Authorities believe the attack to be politically motivated, as per Associated Press. Before the shooting at Washington Hilton, Allen sent out writings which made repeated references to President Donald Trump though he was not named directly. The writings also alluded to grievances over a range of administration actions, including the strikes on boats accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
As per AP, investigators are treating the writings, as well as a trail of social media posts and interviews with family members, as some of the clearest evidence yet of the suspect’s mindset and possible motives.
(With AP inputs)
