Cole Tomas Allen had trouble understanding political activism as a sophomore at Caltech, 11 years before he allegedly attempted to assassinate the president of the United States.
Allen the undergrad was such a “rule abider” that he even had to be persuaded that civil disobedience could be justified and that attending political protests could be more important than Bible study, said Elizabeth Terlinden, who was a member, along with Allen, of the Caltech Christian Fellowship.
Terlinden, 31, described Allen of Torrance as “dutiful” and someone who stuck to his beliefs.
“Politics wasn’t on his radar back then,” she said.
Minutes before he allegedly tried to storm the Washington D.C. ballroom where President Donald Trump was attending the White House Correspondents Dinner on Saturday evening, Allen, 31, sent an email of more than 1,000 words to his family, calling himself the “Friendly Federal Assassin.” He apologized to his family and explained what he was about to do and why: “For all the people whose trust this betrays; I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.”
Allen was taken down, armed with guns and knives, just outside the ballroom after trying to rush through a security checkpoint. On Monday, he was charged with trying to kill Trump.
Terlinden said the Allen she knew never raised his voice, but was calm and analytical.
“He was so apolitical. I had to prompt him to get him to agree Martin Luther King was justified in his actions. Someone who is that dead set against it, I don’t think he’d be likely to say, ‘Let’s burn everything down,’ “she said.
Within hours after Allen’s arrest, reporters swarmed to the two-story South Bay home where he lived with his parents. By Monday, business cards from interview-seeking media plastered the front porch, and the mail box was jammed with letters from reporters.
“I don’t think anybody expected this. It’s not a pleasant experience living on that street right now,” said Paul Thompson, a deputy district attorney who is running for Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Thompson has lived next to the Allens for about four years.
Journalists also camped out at the business where Allen worked as a tutor. Cameras even showed up Sunday at the Grace United Reformed Church in Torrance, where his father was listed as an elder. By Monday, the church had deactivated all its social media accounts.
Amid the clamor, all who knew Allen — and were willing to talk — were stunned by the news that he had allegedly tried to take out the president and members of his administration.
“It was not something we expected to hear. He was just a pleasant young man. Polite, engaged,” said Movses Janbazian, pastor of the United Reformed Church in Pasadena, where Allen attended while at Caltech. “He was a young man that we all liked, and he was very congenial. I don’t think anybody had a negative thing to say about him.”
Ceselia Peralta said Allen had tutored her 11-year-old daughter for nine months, to the point that she no longer needed tutoring.
Peralta said that she had no idea he was tutoring her daughter until she showed her a picture of Allen.
“As parents, we always dealt with the manager; never with the tutor one-on-one,” she said.
Peralta said Allen tutored her daughter in reading comprehension and math. Her daughter said Allen never acted or said anything odd, strange or violent.
Peralta works as a sales agent at a State Farm Insurance Office next door to the tutoring business, C2 Education, in Torrance. The tutoring firm provides tutoring services for students of all ages and SAT/ACT prep in addition to online learning.
Peralta said that just a couple weeks ago, she saw Allen eating lunch at some tables in a courtyard outside the office.
“He was really shy, so it was really surprising to hear,” she said. “He’s just very shy, very quiet. You’d come across him in the hallway, and he’d never look at you. He’d come sit out here at lunch, never say ‘hi or bye.’ ”
In December 2024, Allen earned teacher of the month and proclaimed on his LinkedIn profile that he is a “teacher at heart.”
“He must have been really great with the kids,” Peralta said.
C2 Education, which would normally be open, was closed with the lights off on Monday afternoon.
Allen also had tutored some students who were volunteers with the Asian American Civic Trust, said the group’s president, Dylan Wakayama.
“According to these students, Mr. Allen was knowledgeable across a broad range of subjects and generally very intelligent,” Wakayama said in a statement. “They regarded him as entirely normal and friendly in their interactions.”
Thompson, Allen’s neighbor, described Allen as not being social.
“I don’t know that I ever saw him hang out with anybody or even have a conversation with anybody,” he said. “Our neighborhood is very friendly. People talk to each other. I never saw him talking to anybody.”
Thompson said he was good friends with Allen’s father, Thomas, and had recently shared beers with him on Thomas Allen’s front porch.
“If I thought (Cole Allen) was capable of that kind of violence, I would have done something about it because I’m certainly not going to have my family living near somebody that is armed and dangerous,” Thompson said. “He was a little different. There’s no doubt about it, but I didn’t think he was capable of violence.”
Terlinden said she, too, was shocked by the news, initially thinking it was a case of mistaken identity. Then she read his manifesto, methodical in its approach, written like an engineer.
“I thought …yeah, that sounds like Cole,” she said.
“I considered him one of the last people to engage in a violent act for political activism.”