Investigation sought into Torrance store that sold gun used in alleged Trump assassination attempt

News that the shotgun used by a Torrance resident who stormed into the hotel hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner was purchased at a store in the city has a Los Angeles County supervisor calling Wednesday for an investigation into the business.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn is calling on Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to launch an investigation into Turner’s Outdoorsman, a chain with stores in Torrance and other California cities.

Hahn is also calling on Torrance officials to impose regulations on gun stores “similar to new county ordinances.”

Alleged gunman Cole Tomas Allen purchased the shotgun at the Turner’s Outdoorsman location on Hawthorne Boulevard, then used it during what federal prosecutors charged was an assassination attempt on President Donald Trump and other members of his administration on April 25 at the Washington Hilton.

Prosecutors say he fired the weapon at a Secret Service agent who was injured but was wearing a bulletproof vest.

According to Hahn’s letter to Hochman, guns purchased at the eight Turner’s Outdoorsman stores in Los Angeles County have been connected to a “disproportionate number of firearms recovered at crime scenes” by the California Department of Justice. In addition to Torrance, the Turner’s Outdoorsman locations in Norwalk, Signal Hill and Pasadena also rank among the state’s top crime gun sources, said Hahn citing a justice department data.

“Turner’s Outdoorsman’s practices demand investigation,” Hahn wrote. “Every day, guns sold at Turner’s locations in LA County turn up at crime scenes. These guns are used to kill, to injure, to rob, and to intimidate. They have inflicted immeasurable harm on Los Angeles County residents, and we should wield every tool we have to protect people.”

Citing California Department of Justice findings, Hahn told the D.A. that between 2022 and 2024, nearly 8,000 guns used in crimes in California were obtained at the stores, topping all of the state’s gun dealers and the Torrance store accounted for many of those — 624 during the two-year span.

That puts the Torrance location at No. 2 among the state’s gun purveyors, according to figures cited by Hahn.

County level gun ordinances, which apply to unincorporated areas, ban the sale of .50 caliber guns and ammo, implement a buffer zone between gun dealers and sensitive areas, ban minors from gun stores and require gun stores to keep fingerprint logs, maintain weekly inventory reports, and have security cameras.

Turner’s Outdoorsman officials were not immediately available to comment on Hahn’s calls for an investigation and stiffer regulations.