The Brief
- Newly released internal records, surveillance video and corporate training presentations show Fleet Farm continued to sell firearms to a suspected straw buyer despite “obvious” red flags.
- The evidence was released after the Midwest retailer settled a lawsuit with the State of Minnesota earlier this year. The company was accused of negligently selling dozens of guns to straw buyers.
- One firearm sold by Fleet Farm was recovered at a mass shooting scene in St. Paul and in a separate case, a loaded gun was discovered by a 6-year-old boy. Many guns have still not been recovered.
(FOX 9) – Nearly four years after the State of Minnesota sued retailer Fleet Farm for not doing enough to prevent the illegal straw purchase of dozens of guns, evidence connected to the case has been publicly released—which includes hundreds of court records, internal corporate documents, surveillance video and the company’s training videos.
‘Does anybody else find this suspicious?’
The backstory:
Surveillance video reviewed by the FOX 9 Investigators shows Jerome Horton Jr. purchasing multiple handguns on multiple occasions at a Fleet Farm store in Blaine. One of the guns was later used in a mass shooting in downtown Saint Paul.
Horton was later convicted for making dozens of illegal straw purchases, which is when someone with a clean record buys a gun for someone else who can’t pass a background check. …