Killer’s mother assisting in suit against 2 gun dealers

Has agreed to pay $400,000 to victim’s family, give documents

PORTLAND, Ore. — Three years ago a 30-yearold mentally ill man fatally shot a California woman as she admired a scenic view on the Oregon coast, using one of three weapons acquired by the killer’s mother from gun dealers.

The family of the dead woman, 57-year-old Kirsten Englund, filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this year against two gun dealers who sold the firearms and against the killer’s mother, Diane Boyce.

And now the mother of murderer Jeffrey Boyce has agreed to pay $400,000 to Englund’s family and has also provided documents to assist in their lawsuit against the two gun dealers, the family’s attorneys said Thursday.

The lawsuit states that Diane Boyce had acted as a “straw purchaser” to acquire weapons for her son, which is against the law, and contends that the two gun dealers failed to heed “red flags” that Jeffrey Boyce was the actual purchaser.

Jeffrey Boyce committed suicide by hanging himself in a California jail cell about three months after his arrest.

Lawyers for the Englund family on Thursday filed an amended complaint that includes information provided by Diane Boyce.

Named in the lawsuit are the World Pawn Exchange in North Bend, and J& GSales, Ltd. of Arizona, which sells firearms online.

The complaint states that Jeffrey Boyce of Coos Bay, Oregon, ordered the three firearms over the internet and had them delivered to World Pawn Exchange in nearby North Bend.

It states that Jeffrey Boyce would not have been able to legally purchase those guns himself because he had a felony conviction for unlawful use of a weapon and because of his mental health issues.

It says that Jeffrey Boyce created a customer account with J& G for purchasing two of the weapons, including the handgun used to kill Kirsten Englund, and there is more purchase documentation that makes it explicitly clear he was the actual buyer.

Diane Boyce picked up the three weapons from World Pawn Exchange over a three-month period — from Dec. 12, 2011, to Feb. 27, 2012.