The 29-year-old passed a background check and had two security licenses, one of which allowed him to be armed while on duty. Omar Mateen purchased an AR-15-style rifle, a Sig Sauer MCX, and a handgun on separate days about a week before the attack from a licensed dealer near his home in Fort Pierce, Florida. Twelve of the semi-automatic rifles recovered by authorities were equipped with bump stocks, a device that allows them to fire repeatedly without pulling the trigger over and over. His gradual accumulation of weapons went undetected because federal law does not require licensed gun dealers to alert the government about rifle purchases. None of the purchases drew scrutiny because the 64-year-old Paddock passed all background checks. 28, 2017, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Paddock purchased 33 of the 49 weapons found in the hotel room and at his homes between October 2016 and Sept. Stephen Paddock amassed the bulk of his arsenal over the span of a year, culminating with a purchase three days before he holed up in the Mandalay Bay hotel and opened fire on a country music festival below. Photo by Courtesy of Eric Paddock via AP, File Police initially said Stephen Paddock stopped firing on the music festival concert crowd below to shoot through his door and wound a Mandalay Bay security guard who was outside. This undated file photo provided by Eric Paddock shows his brother, Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock. Kelley was convicted at a court-martial for choking his then-wife and fracturing her son’s skull in 2012.
Military rules require that the information be shared.Ī 1996 law bans people convicted of even a misdemeanour-level domestic violence offence from owning guns.
The 26-year-old passed required background checks because the Air Force never informed the FBI about his criminal conduct - an assault on his wife and her child that led to a court-martial, a year of confinement and a bad conduct discharge. Kelley purchased four guns, including the AR-15-style rifle and handguns found in and near First Baptist Church, from licensed dealers in Texas and Colorado over a four-year span. 25 DEADĭevin Patrick Kelley’s history of domestic abuse barred him from legally buying guns, but he did so anyway because information about his crimes was never entered into a federal database used for background checks. Photo by Texas Department of Public Safety via AP, File 16, 2018 detail a June 2013 investigation of allegations against Kelley, four years before the November 2017 mass shooting at a tiny church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. This undated file photo provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows Devin Patrick Kelley. The FBI agency failed to follow protocols and no further investigation was conducted. In January, the FBI received a tip from someone who said Cruz had expressed a desire to kill people, was making disturbing social media posts and could potentially commit a school shooting. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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Handgun purchases are restricted to 21 and older.Ĭruz had his gun for about seven months when he commented on YouTube that he was “going to be a professional school shooter.” The FBI said it investigated but was unable to identify the person who posted the comment. Federal allows people as young as 18 to buy semi-automatic weapons from licensed dealers. If Cruz wanted a handgun, however, the sale wouldn’t have been allowed. Under federal law, gun purchases can only be blocked if a person is legally declared a “mental defective” or committed to a mental institution. 17 DEADĬruz legally purchased a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle in February 2017 from a licensed gun store located about three miles from the school, law enforcement officials said.Ĭruz had gone to a mental health clinic for treatment but hadn’t been there in more than a year, Broward County Mayor Beam Furr said. Photo by Broward's Sheriff's Office via Getty Images Article content Suspect Nikolas Cruz poses for a mugshot after being arrested Feb.
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