Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn is calling for a full-blown investigation into a Torrance gun store that sold a shotgun to White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooter Cole Allen,the deranged CalTech gradaccused of trying to assassinate President Donald Trump.
In a sharply worded letter to LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, Hahn urged prosecutors to investigate Turner’s Outdoorsman over firearm sales she says are heavily tied to crime guns recovered across California.
Nearly 8,000 crime guns traced statewide between 2022 and 2024 allegedly came from Turner’s locations, more than any other gun dealer in California.REUTERS
According to Hahn, figures from the California Department of Justice show eight Turner’s Outdoorsman stores in Los Angeles County were linked to a “disproportionate number of firearms recovered at crime scenes.”
The numbers are staggering: Nearly 8,000 crime guns traced statewide between 2022 and 2024 allegedly came from Turner’s locations, more than any other gun dealer in California.
Hahn singled out the retailer’s Torrance store, saying it alone was tied to 624 recovered firearms during that stretch, making it the second-highest-ranking individual gun retailer in the state.
The US Department of Justice releases selfies of the suspect accused to opening fire during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.Department of Justice / BACKGRID
The demand for answers comes as federal prosecutors build their case against Allen, 31, who allegedly stormed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton and unleashed gunfire during the high-profile event.
Authorities said between five and eight shots rang out during the attack, leaving a Secret Service agent wounded.
The accused imbecile was slapped with four felony charges: attempt to assassinate the president of the United States, assaulting a US officer with a deadly weapon, transportation of a firearm and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
He faces up to life behind bars if convicted on the top count.
Trump blasted Allen as a possible “lone wolf whack job” who “looked pretty evil.”
Investigators believe Allen may have been fueled by deep political rage and obsession.
Jeanine Pirro speaks at a press conference with Kash Patel and Darren Cox in Washington, D.C.Getty Images
A preliminary Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment dated April 27 concluded the suspect had “multiple social and political grievances” with the Trump administration and said the Iran conflict “may have contributed to his decision to conduct the attack.”
Sources told The Post that Allen allegedly fired off a bizarre 1,052-word manifesto to relatives roughly 10 minutes before the shooting.
The rambling message, signed “Cole ‘coldForce’ ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’ Allen,” allegedly detailed his “rules of engagement” and declared it was his mission to target administration officials.
The head of a Texas Islamic group that rented out a taxpayer-funded waterpark for an event that was advertised as “Muslim only” runs a childhood education center with the exact same unfortunate ‘Learing Center’ typo first seen at an infamous daycare in Minneapolis.
The Excellence Early “Learing” Center typo drew comparisons to the now-infamous Quality Learing Center in Minneapolis which is under investigators’ microscope as a possible fraud.excellenceearlylearningcenter.com
The “Excellence Early Learing Center,” as its misspelled website header reads — located in the Fort Worth suburb of Hurst — offers a variety of programs for youngsters from infants to pre-K, and promises to provide children with “the loving, personal care that they need to thrive and feel confident.”
The center boasts “multiculturalism, small classroom sizes, healthy eating and a warm, loving environment that feels like home” and staff with degrees in “education, accounting, biology, pharmacology, science, nursing and mathematics from their home countries.”
Its owner, head operator and curriculum designer is Aminah Knight, who boasts a master’s degree fro the University of Southern California and a doctorate from Vanderbilt University.
The very same typo was found on signage outside the Quality Learing Center in Minneapolis.LP Media for NY Post
Earlier this week, Knight and her DFW Epic Eid organization drew massive criticism for a flyer advertising an event at Epic Waters in Grand Prairie billed as “Muslim only” and requiring modest swimsuits for all attendees.
Epic Waters, a sprawling, 80,000-square-feet indoor waterpark opened in 2017 at a cost of $88 million — funded by a 0.25% sales tax hike residents approved at the ballot box in 2014.
The FAQ for the third-annual event, which was being held to celebrate the Muslim holiday Eid, initially proclaimed “the entire waterpark has been exclusively reserved for Muslims.”
After the backlash, Knight modified the advert to omit the exclusionary language, and acknowledged to The Post in an email that the original messaging wasn’t intended to bar non-Muslims.
DFW Epic Eid put out a flyer advertising a Muslims-only event at a Texas indoor waterpark funded by taxpayer dollars before the event was canceled amid the uproar.
“The core intention behind this event is to create a space where individuals and families who value modest dress and a modest environment can come together and feel comfortable enjoying a recreational space that often doesn’t naturally accommodate those preferences,” she said.
But by the time the uproar reached critical mass it was too late, and the event was subsequently scrapped after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to yank $530,000 in public safety grants from the city of Grand Prairie if it didn’t cancel the event by May 11.
Dr. Aminah Knight is the owner, head operator and curriculum designer of the Excellence Early Learing Center, and heads up DFW Epic Eid, which organized the since-canceled Muslims-only waterpark event.Facebook/Aminah Knight-Abdullah
“A city-owned water park in Grand Prairie openly advertised a “MUSLIMS ONLY” event – closed to the general public,” Abbott fumed in an X post Wednesday.
“After further review and in the best interest of the City of Grand Prairie, the June 1 Eid event at Epic Waters Indoor Waterpark has been canceled,” a city spokesperson told The Post in a statement.
Knight didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Post Thursday seeking comment about the typo.
The deadlyhantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship has put citizens and health authorities on high alert.
Experts believe a few passengers were infected with the Andes strain of hantavirus, which has a mortality rate of up to 40% because it affects the lungs and kidneys, which are critical for survival.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted to humans by inhaling particles from infected rodent droppings, urine or nesting materials.
In the case of the infected passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, the World Health Organization insisted that no rodents had been found on the liner.@DrTedros/X
While less common, infection can also occur through rodent bites.
Hantavirus made headlines in March of last year when it was determined to be the cause of death for Betsy Arakawa, the classical pianist married to Oscar winner Gene Hackman.
In the case of the infected passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, the World Health Organization insisted that no rodents had been found on the liner, suggesting that the ship’s specific conditions and close quarters allowed the virus to spread from person to person, a transmission exclusive to the Andes strain.
In person-to-person transmission, the virus is typically spread during the early phase of the illness, before the body’s immune system has started responding and the infection is at its most transmissible.
The virus generally can live up to four days, but it can survive longer depending on the environment.
Testing for hantavirus
Hantavirus infection can be confirmed via a blood test that measures IgM and IgG levels, antibodies that tend to spike early and late in the course of infection.
According to WHO, hantavirus infection has also been confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests that detect fragments of the virus’s genetic material.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted to humans by inhaling particles from infected rodent droppings, urine or nesting materials.Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
The incubation period for hantavirus infection lasts about two weeks.
Symptoms usually appear one to eight weeks after exposure and include fever, headache, muscle aches, abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting. These initial symptoms are frustratingly vague and can lead to a misdiagnosis of COVID or the flu. Additionally, 30% of patients initially present as asymptomatic.
Following initial symptom onset, depending on the strain of the disease, a patient may develop hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which affects the lungs and heart, or hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS), which compromises the kidneys.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS)
Typically, the Andes strain causes hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), which can be life-threatening and is characterized by a cough, shortness of breath and fluid accumulation in the lungs.
HPS symptoms, specifically breathing problems, typically present four to 10 days after the initial phase of the illness. If and when fluid fills the lungs, the patient will require intubation to breathe.
Experts say the Andes strain has historically and disproportionately affected healthy men in their 30s.
“It can progress to this more critical stage where you start to get respiratory symptoms and respiratory failure and cardiac collapse,” Dr. Emily Abdoler, an infectious disease physician at University of Michigan Health, told NBC News.
“It causes a collapse of body systems critical for survival on a second-by-second basis,” she warned.
Patients affected by HPS can deteriorate within hours.
Experts maintain that around 40% of patients who develop HPS die from it.
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS)
Normally, the Asian strain of hantavirus causes HFRS, which affects the kidneys.
HFRS symptoms develop more rapidly than those associated with HPS, often within two weeks, and can include blurred vision, inflammation or redness in or around the eyes and a butterfly-shaped rash on the cheeks.
However, it can take up to eight weeks for symptoms to begin.
As the virus progresses, patients routinely experience a sharp decline in blood pressure that can cause lightheadedness, nausea and confusion, as well as internal bleeding and, eventually, kidney failure.
Patients admitted at this late, critical stage are typically placed in intensive care and put on dialysis to filter toxins.
It is important to note that not everyone who is infected will experience serious illness.
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is much more deadly than hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.Corbis via Getty Images
According to NBC News. 40% will develop mild symptoms, while the remaining 60% will develop the aforementioned life-threatening symptoms.
Experts note that for many victims, the body’s immune response, rather than the infection itself, causes death.
There is no specific treatment for hantavirus. Patients are typically given care that targets symptoms, including medications to reduce fever, IV fluids to treat dehydration and a class of pharmaceuticals known as vasopressors, which boost blood pressure to ensure vital organs receive essential nutrients, such as oxygen.
For patients with HPS, early admission to a hospital is critical, as oxygen therapy and a ventilator may be needed. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines are used when the heart and lungs fail.
For HFRS, care includes hydration and maintenance of oxygen and blood pressure. If caught early, patients can take the antiviral ribavirin via IV.
How deadly is hantavirus?
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is much more deadly than hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.
The mortality rate for HPS is about 35%-40%, while HFRS’s mortality rate ranges from less than 1% to 15%, depending on the specific virus.
How can you reduce your risk of a hantavirus infection?
Don’t leave your pet’s food and water where mice can reach it.
Trap all mice.
Air out closed spaces where the mice made their home.
Use a disinfectant to soak down nests and droppings.
Don’t sweep rodent droppings into the air.
Move hay, wood and compost piles far from your home.
Get rid of trash and junk piles that could draw rodents.
Iran has established a new government agency intended to control and tax vessels seeking to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing a shipping data company Lloyd's List Intelligence. The new agency, called the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, is said to be Iran's "only valid authority to grant permission to ships transiting the strait."
The news comes as Pakistani mediators await the Iranian response to the US peace deal proposal, amid US President Donald Trump's threats that Washington will bomb Iran if it does not accept the deal. Meanwhile, Saudi media outlets reported earlier today that a "breakthrough" is expected today to restart the transit of the ships that have been stuck in the Persian Gulf.
European Council President Antonio Costa stated that the bloc sees potential for negotiations with Russia, as reported by the Financial Times on Thursday.
Furthermore, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is supportive of the idea, Costa said. "I’m talking with the [EU’s] 27 national leaders to see the best way to organise ourselves and to identify what we need effectively to discuss with Russia when it comes the right moment to do this," he declared. Potential talks between Moscow and Brussels coincide with Europe's growing frustration with United States President Donald Trump's handling of the peace process in Ukraine. Nevertheless, Costa emphasized the EU would not seek to "disturb" the US-led initiative.
Despite hopes for potential reconciliation with Moscow, Costa noted that "for the time being, nobody has seen any sign from Russia that they want effectively to engage in serious negotiations."
