{"id":210549,"date":"2026-04-26T21:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/210549\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T21:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T21:04:14","slug":"cole-allen-bought-guns-at-two-california-stores-before-whcd-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/210549\/","title":{"rendered":"Cole Allen bought guns at two California stores before WHCD attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

The White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner shoote<\/a>r assembled his arsenal from two California stores in the months and years before the attack.<\/p>\n

Cole Allen purchased a Maverick\u00a012-gauge pump-action shotgun from Turner\u2019s Outdoorsman in Torrance last August and a Armscor semi-automatic pistol from CAP Tactical Firearms in Lawndale in October 2023.<\/p>\n

Allen was charged with using a firearm during a crime of violence and assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon after allegedly trying to storm the banquet in DC<\/a> last night.<\/p>\n

Mullen\u2019s store sold Cole Allen weapons. Mullen is pictured holding a gun at the store. Instagram\/@masaje_og<\/p>\n

Bill Mullen at Cap Tactical Firearms in Lawndale. Instagram\/@masaje_og<\/p>\n

Agents revealed he was carrying a shotgun, a pistol and knives on him when he was taken down by officers just yards from President Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Authorities also revealed Sunday he stored the weapons at his parents\u2019 house in Torrance<\/a> and regularly trained at a shooting range.<\/p>\n

Turner\u2019s Outdoorsman, which is near the suspect\u2019s family home, bills itself as \u201cTexas Freedom, California style\u201d on its website.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live updates on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner<\/a><\/p>\n

It is a general outdoors store selling fishing gear, clothing and accessories \u2014 but also sells a wide range of pistols, rifles and shotguns.<\/p>\n

It is managed by Jesse Sanchez, but the wider company is ran by CEO Bryan Harris. When Turner\u2019s was asked by The Post if Allen bought a gun at the store and what protocols were conducted an employee responded they were \u201cUnable to confirm or deny that information\u201d and referred questions to their corporate office.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile the pistol was bought from CAP Tactical Firearms, a family-run store run by Bill Mullen out of Lawndale.<\/p>\n

Cap Tactical Firearms. Google Maps<\/p>\n

Mullen, who established the store 10 years ago, sells rifles, handguns, ammo, tactical gear, knives, and shotguns at the modest looking store on Hawthorne Ave.<\/p>\n

He told an LA website in 2017 he was fighting the stigma of firearms. \u201cIt is sometimes hard to remind people that not everyone who owns a firearm is a criminal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Follow the latest on the shooting at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner:<\/p>\n

Donald Pearsall \/ NY Post Design<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important factor behind the business is the product (firearms) coupled with our strong belief and understanding of our second amendment rights. We have the right to bear and keep arms- may it be for sport or self defense,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Cap Tactical says on its website it abides by strict background checks and permitting rules.\u00a0Calls to Mullen went unreturned.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are a small family owned and operated firearms dealer, we give one on one service and seek to educate new shooters and bring families together through this sport. We have a clean, relaxed setting that is child and family friendly.\u201d Mullen said in a previous interview.<\/p>\n

Allen sent a manifesto to his family<\/a> just 10 minutes before he opened fire at Saturday\u2019s event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cole Allen gets taken down by authorities. truthsocial\/@realDonaldTrump<\/p>\n

Cole Allen ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

In the 1,052-word missive exclusively obtained by The Post Sunday morning<\/a>, Allen, 31, called himself the \u201cFriendly Federal Assassin\u201d and revealed he was trying to kill Trump administration officials.<\/p>\n

President Trump, first lady Melania Trump<\/a> and cabinet members were among the 2,5000 attendees of the annual event. The high-ranking officials were swiftly ushered out of the room after shots rang out.<\/p>\n

A Secret Service agent was shot in the vest during the melee, and a shirtless Allen was soon taken into custody in the lobby of the Washington Hilton Hotel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White House Correspondents\u2019 Dinner shooter assembled his arsenal from two California stores in the months and years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[83162,2136,153,4542,7391,57,9,11,10,58,83124],"class_list":{"0":"post-210549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-2026-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-guns","12":"tag-melania-trump","13":"tag-metro","14":"tag-new-york","15":"tag-new-york-headlines","16":"tag-new-york-news","17":"tag-us-news","18":"tag-white-house-correspondents-dinner"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}