Mere days after Arizona resident Douglas Haig was revealed to be the man who sold over 700 rounds of ammunition to Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock, authorities charged him in a Nevada federal court. According to the New York Times, Haig has been charged “with manufacturing armor-piercing bullets” despite his not possessing the necessary license to make and sell such rounds commercially:
Investigators said they had found Mr. Haig’s fingerprints on unfired armor-piercing ammunition inside the hotel room Mr. Paddock used as his shooting perch. Mr. Haig, 55, did not have the license needed to manufacture such ammunition, according to the charges filed by federal authorities.
While speaking with CBS News, Newsweek, and numerous other outlets earlier in the week, Haig insisted he didn’t personally know Haddock. He also claimed there was no conspiracy regarding his loose association with the shooter, adding that he “couldn’t detect anything wrong with this guy” at the time. Even so, the lack of a proper license — as well as discrepancies between Haig’s testimony and evidence found in Haddock’s hotel room — resulted in Friday’s charge:
Federal investigators said that Mr. Haig told them that he made “reload” ammunition, essentially creating new bullets from used cartridges, but told them that he did not sell them. But investigators found that two of the unfired armor-piercing bullets found in Mr. Paddock’s hotel room had been created by Mr. Haig.
Previously, one of Haig’s lawyers told reporters that, “to the best of his knowledge, [his client had] never sold ammunition to anybody who has ever used it for any unlawful purpose whatsoever.”
(Via New York Times)