Las Vegas Gunman’s Ammunition Seller Arrested on Federal Charge

Faces $250,000 Fine, Up to Five Years in Prison, or Both

Douglas Haig, who sold ammunition to the gunman responsible for October’s Las Vegas massacre, was arrested Friday on a charge of manufacturing and selling armor-piercing bullets in violation of federal law.

“A criminal complaint alleges two unfired .308-caliber rounds found in gunman Stephen Paddock’s hotel room had Haig’s fingerprints on them as well as tool marks from his workshop,” CNN reported Saturday. “The bullets in the cartridges were classified as armor-piercing, the complaint says.”

“The FBI on October 19 searched Haig’s Mesa home and seized ammunition the agency says is classified as armor-piercing, the complaint said,” they continued. “Haig did not have a license to manufacture armor-piercing ammunition, documents said.”

As NPR also reported, Haig was identified early this week as a “person of interest” in the massacre. They further noted that court documents have indicated Haig sold the gunman “720 rounds of tracer bullets.”

NPR continued:

Haig came to investigators’ attention early on, when they found a shipping box with his name on it among Paddock’s possessions, reports NPR’s Martin Kaste.

Authorities also found Haig’s fingerprints on armor-piercing bullets recovered from Paddock’s Mandalay Bay hotel room. The ammunition found at the scene was unfired, and it’s unclear if any of it was used in the attack.

According to NPR, tracer ammunition is “built with a small pyrotechnic charge that produces a bright trail of light to allow a shooter to see the bullet’s trajectory during nighttime firing or other low visibility scenarios.”

During a press conference with his attorney, Haig told reporters that “at no time did I see anything suspicious or odd or any kind of a tell.” He further advised that “I had no contribution to what Paddock did. I had no way to see into his mind. The product that I sold him had absolutely nothing to do with what he did.”

Las Vegas’ Fox 5 detailed the case:

It’s been less than four months since 58 innocents were killed and 489 others were wounded during a country music concert in Las Vegas. The tragedy became the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.

In an interview which aired last week, the president of the United States defended his administration’s lackadaisical approach to gun control. Donald Trump advised that if the Las Vegas shooter “didn’t have 55 guns, he would have had 55 bombs.”

If convicted, Haig faces a fine of $250,000, up to five years in prison, or both.