San Diego Union-Tribune

KILLER OF 8 BOUGHT GUNS DESPITE RED FLAGS

-

The former employee who shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapol­is legally bought the two rifles used in the attack despite red f lag laws designed to prevent such purchases, police said.

A trace of the two guns found by investigat­ors at the scene revealed that suspect Brandon Scott Hole, 19, of Indianapol­is, legally bought the rifles last July and September, officials with the Indianapol­is police said Saturday.

The police did not say where Hole bought what they described as “assault rifles,” citing the ongoing investigat­ion, but said he was seen using both rifles during the shooting.

Details about the weapons’ make, model and caliber won’t be released until the investigat­ion is complete, said Genae Cook, a spokespers­on for the Indianapol­is Metropolit­an Police Department.

Authoritie­s said Hole shot and killed eight people, four of them from the city’s Sikh community, at the FedEx facility late Thursday before killing himself.

The FBI said agents had questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to say her son might commit “suicide by cop.” Officers seized a pump-action shotgun from Hole’s home after responding to the call, according to a police report. Police said the gun was never returned to him.

Republican Sen. Todd Young called Sunday for more mental health services across all level of government­s.

“We know that we have a Hoosier family who cried out for help, knowing they had a child who required mental health treatment. We know we have members of our law enforcemen­t community who, for a period of time, responded to that call for help. And we know that in the end, that wasn’t enough,” he told The Associated Press before addressing a gathering at the Gurdwara Sikh Satsang, a Sikh house of worship on the east side of Indianapol­is.

Young questioned whether Indiana’s red flag laws “were actually enforced” to prevent the shooting.

Mark Bode, a spokespers­on for Indianapol­is Mayor Joe Hogsett, said Sunday that his office also “continues to monitor closely the findings of the ongoing investigat­ion, and what breakdowns in the red flag law processes may have come into play.”

Indiana has had a “red flag law” allowing police or courts to seize guns from people who show warning signs of violence since 2005.

The law is intended to prevent people from purchasing or possessing a firearm if they are found by a judge to present “an imminent risk” to themselves or others.

Hole was a former employee at the FedEx facility who left his job last year, police said. Authoritie­s have not yet announced a possible motive for the attack.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States