A Torrance tutor is facing criminal charges, including attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump, after exchanging gunfire with federal agents, according to prosecutors.
Cole Tomas Allen, 31, a tutor employed at a college prep center, was arrested Saturday, April 25, after firing shots inside the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents Dinner was being held. President Trump, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance and other members of his administration, celebrities, and journalists were in attendance.
He is also charged with using and transporting firearms after taking an Amtrak train from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.
By 7:30 p.m. PST on Saturday, FBI agents and law enforcement arrived at the scene on Gramercy Avenue in Torrance to conduct a search at Allen’s reported address.
“I see a whole bunch of police, flashing lights, it was crazy,” Luca Terrazzino, a 14-year-old middle school student, said. He was riding his bicycle around the neighborhood, which is located near Old Torrance and Torrance High School, when law enforcement arrived. “I see the people in the shooter’s house, their parents walk out… I see the police and FBI interviewing them… I was shocked, I didn’t know what was going on.”
By the following morning, the police vehicles had been replaced by news crews who had set up cameras across the street from the home.
“I couldn’t believe it, the town is not like that at all,” Courteney Romero, a 29-year-old Torrance mother whose brother attended CSU Dominguez Hills around the same time as Allen, said. “This town, it’s the South Bay, it’s a beach town and very laid back.”
Allen was recognized as “Teacher of the Month” for December 2024, an Instagram post by C2 Education of Torrance, where he had been employed since March 2020, according to his LinkedIn.
By the following Monday, C2 Education had closed its Del Amo Village location for the day.
The Union reached out to C2 Education for a comment, but did not receive a reply.
The Union also talked to over 40 students on campus on Monday, April 27, but most either didn’t know what had happened or didn’t want to comment.
“I don’t think that this person is representative of our community,” Nico Piertrantonio, 31, a human resources technician with the city of Torrance, said. “Torrance is safe, it’s a great community.”
The Union also reached out to the Director of Marketing and Communications, Ann O’ Brien, to see if Allen or his family had any ties to El Camino College.
“There was no formal response since there’s no connection to El Camino College, but it’s a tragic situation for the city of Torrance,” Director of Marketing and Communications Ann O’Brien said.
Torrance Mayor George K. Chen issued a statement over X, formerly known as Twitter, condemning Allen’s actions.
“One individual’s alleged actions do not define our city or the values of the more than 143,000 residents who call Torrance home,” Chen said.
Allen reportedly purchased firearms, including a shotgun and a semi-automatic pistol, at least eight months to two years earlier from two South Bay area gun stores, Turner Outdoorsman and CAP Tactical, both located on Hawthorne Boulevard.
In 2017, Allen was interviewed by ABC7 about a wheelchair emergency brake he had developed. He also developed Bohrdom, “a skill-based, non-violent” fighting game about chemistry models that was released in 2018.
“It’s just so unreal to know that this is right here, down the street, incorporated in our daily lives, and not knowing if we could have passed him in the grocery store, and to go to this kind of extreme, it’s unreal,” Romero said.
Ana Gamez, Michelle Claire Pentreath, and Nikki Yunker contributed to this story.
