Elizabeth Terlinden, a former classmate of the man accused in the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, DC, said that when she saw Cole Tomas Allen’s name on TV, she thought it was a case of “mistaken identity”.
“I thought it might be a case of mistaken identity, that there was somebody else by the same name and that the Times reporter had reached me in error,” she said.
However, Terlinden soon realised that the accused is the same person she had studied with.
#NDTVExclusive | Trump Event Shooter Charged With ‘Attempt To Assassinate’ US President. Accused’s Former Classmate Elizabeth Terlinden Shares His Views With @SehgalRahesha pic.twitter.com/ZYtZrDIMZo
— NDTV (@ndtv) April 28, 2026
She said that back when they shared classrooms, Allen was “very calm and quiet”, to the extent that he often faded into the background.
“He was very even-tempered and calm, studied hard, played around with us. That’s part of the reason that I’ve been speaking to the press, because people are saying that he must have been radicalised at CalTech, and I know that’s not true,” she said.
Regarding his views on politics, Terlinden said that she knew the accused through the Caltech Christian Fellowship. She said that their main disagreement about politics happened only because he thought she “spent too much time” on politics instead of focusing on religion.
“He felt that I was focusing too much on this world and not enough on the next, just as a question of time management,” she said.
Allen, on Saturday, was arraigned in a federal court on charges of trying to assassinate the US president and two firearms crimes.
If convicted, Cole Tomas Allen, 31, faces a life sentence.
What Happened At The Washington Correspondents’ Dinner Event
US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and several senior officials and journalists were attending the dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, when the situation unfolded.
Allen bypassed security and fired shots as he moved towards the venue. He was arrested by law enforcement while the president and vice president were taken to safety.