Prosecutors file charges against ammo supplier
CHANDLER, Ariz. — An Arizona man who sold ammunition to the gunman who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history has been charged with manufacturing armor-piercing bullets, according to court documents.
Unfired armor-piercing bullets found inside the Las Vegas hotel room where Stephen Paddock began the Oct. 1 attack had the fingerprints of ammunition dealer Douglas Haig, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in federal court in Phoenix. It says Haig didn’t have a license to manufacture armor-piercing ammunition.
Haig has acknowledged selling 720 rounds of tracer ammunition to Paddock in the weeks before the shooting that killed 58 people. Tracer bullets contain a pyrotechnic charge that illuminates the path of fired bullets so shooters can see whether their aim is correct.
The criminal charge involves another type of ammunition — armor-piercing bullets.
The documents don’t say if any ammunition tied to Paddock was used in the attack. Las Vegas police wouldn’t say whether armor-piercing bullets were used in the shooting but referred to a preliminary report saying some rifle magazines were loaded with armor-piercing ammunition.
Haig, a 55-year-old aerospace engineer who sold ammunition as a hobby for about 25 years, was charged shortly before holding a news conference where he said he didn’t notice anything suspicious when he sold the tracer rounds to Paddock.
Haig told investigators that when Paddock bought the ammunition at his home in suburban Phoenix, Paddock went to his car to get gloves and put them on before taking the box from Haig, the complaint said.
“I had no contribution to what Paddock did,” Haig said, adding that there was nothing unusual about the type or quantity of ammunition the shooter bought. “I had no way to see into his mind.”
The two armor-piercing bullets found in Paddock’s hotel room with Haig’s fingerprints had an “incendiary capsule” on their noses, the documents said. A forensic analysis of those two bullets had tool marks consistent with the equipment in Haig’s backyard workshop, according to the complaint.
It also alleges that FBI agents searching Haig’s home on Oct. 19 found armor-piercing ammunition.
Haig appeared in court and was released under the condition he not possess guns or ammunition. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000.
Haig and his business partner, whose name wasn’t provided, sold 40 to 50 rounds of incendiary rounds to Paddock in late August at a Las Vegas gun show, according to the complaint.
The next month, Haig said he met Paddock at a Phoenix gun show and that he was welldressed and polite.
He didn’t have the quantity of tracer ammunition on hand that Paddock was seeking, so Paddock contacted him several days later and lined up a sale at Haig’s home.
Haig said he was shocked and sickened when a federal agent informed him of the massacre 11 hours after it unfolded.
Haig arose in the investigation when a box with his name and address was found in the Mandalay Bay hotel suite where Paddock opened fire.