Gunman bought weapons in Colo. Springs

A former Colorado resident who killed 26 people at a Texas church purchased two handguns at a Colorado Springs gun shop, but did not use those in the massacre, the store owner says.

Devin Patrick Kelley bought the weapons at Specialty Sports and Supply, said owner Jeff Lepp.

“This is the last thing you ever want to happen. You certainly don’t want a gun bought in your store to be used in a mass murder. It was a great relief to learn that he didn’t use those guns in the Texas shooting,” Lepp said Wednesday.

Kelley used other guns to fire 450 bullets in the tiny First Baptist church in Sutherland Springs and then, after a car chase, kill himself.

Lepp was eating dinner with family and guests when an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives called him from Washington, D.C.

The agent explained he was performing an urgent trace of the serial numbers of two guns. The agent needed to confirm those guns had been purchased at his store, Lepp said.

“That’s unheard of,” Lepp said. “It was the first time in 24 years that that has happened. It was obviously an emergency.”

Lepp drove to his store, pulled his records and learned that Kelley had bought both guns at Specialty Sports and Supply.

Kelley later sold one of those guns. Law enforcement officers found the other gun in Kelley’s home, Lepp said.

The ATF agent told Lepp not to disclose the types of weapons that were purchased at his store.

In both instances, one of Lepp’s employees performed criminal background checks on Kelley and cleared him for the gun purchases, he said. No one at the store, which has an inventory of 5,000 guns for sale, remembered Kelley, Lepp said.

The U.S. Air Force failed to input Kelley’s conviction for domestic violence into the federal National Instant Check System. In Colorado, background checks are done through the NICS and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

“I’m a huge believer in the background-checking system,” Lepp said.

He predicted that the U.S. Air Force would correct whatever led to its failure to report Kelley’s conviction to the NICS.