On the afternoon of June 10, 2009, Cohen was present at the United States Holocaust Museum, waiting for his wife Janet Langhart, for the world premiere of her one-act play, "Anne and Emmett". The play imagines a conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till. While Cohen waited, an elderly man with a long gun attacked the facility, fatally shooting a security guard before being wounded himself by the other guards. Cohen and his wife were not injured during the attack.