Seller of ammo to Las Vegas shooter indicted
PHOENIX — An Arizona man who sold ammunition to the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history was charged Wednesday in Nevada on a charge of engaging in the business of making ammunition without a license.
The indictment against Douglas Haig of Mesa doesn’t mention his sales to Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 people at a music festival 10 months ago in Las Vegas. The charge says Haig sold ammunition without a license from July 2016 until mid-October 2017 but makes no mention of the Las Vegas attack.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Haig sold armor-piercing ammunition throughout the United States, including Nevada, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming, and South Carolina.
Haig told investigators that he reloads ammunition but doesn’t sell such cartridges to customers — and that none of the ammunition recovered in the Las Vegas attack would have tool marks consistent with his reloading equipment, prosecutors said.
The prosecutors also said Haig’s fingerprints were found on reloaded unfired .308-caliber cartridges inside Paddock’s hotel room. Authorities had previously said that armor-piercing ammunition recovered inside Paddock’s room had tool marks consistent with Haig’s reloading equipment.
Marc Victor, an attorney in metro Phoenix who represents Haig, says said his client will aggressively fight the Nevada charge.
It’s illegal to manufacture and sell armor-piercing ammunition, but federal law allows certain exceptions, such as ammunition that’s intended to be used by government agencies within the United States, said Gary B. Wells, an attorney in Argyle, Texas, who specializes in firearms law and isn’t involved in Haig’s case.