A sporting goods retailer violated the law by selling an AR-15-style rifle and large capacity magazine to a man who later used them to kill more than two dozen worshippers at a Texas church, federal prosecutors said in a court filing.
Devin Patrick Kelley presented a Colorado driver’s license at an Academy Sports + Outdoors store in Texas to buy the rifle and ammunition, the Department of Justice said in a motion filed Tuesday in San Antonio.
“Academy was not permitted to sell Kelley the Model 8500 Ruger AR-556 under federal law because sale of that rifle would have been illegal in Colorado,” prosecutor Paul David Stern wrote in the filing. “On November 5, 2017, Kelley used the (rifle) to commit the shooting at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs.”
The Department of Justice wants to add Academy as a responsible third party in an ongoing federal lawsuit . A spokeswoman for the Texas-based company declined to comment Thursday on the federal action, citing the pending…Â Star-Tribune