A Blaine man is accused of straw purchasing firearms, including the weapons tied to the killings of two young girls in Minneapolis.
Federal charges brought last month allege William Earl Burton bought the guns used in the 2021 shooting deaths of 9-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith and 6-year-old Aniya Allen.
According to the criminal complaint, Burton purchased more than 40 firearms from licensed dealers in the Twin Cities area during a 10-month span from November 2019 through August 2020.
Burton then “subsequently transferred these firearms to purchasers,” prosecutors allege, despite claiming the guns were for himself on Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) forms.…