INDIANAPOLIS – The ex-killer who killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis legally bought the two rifles used in the attack despite red-flag laws designed to prevent such purchases, police said.
A trace of the two weapons found by investigators at the site revealed that the suspect Brandon Scott Hole, 19, of Indianapolis, legally bought the rifles in late July and September, Indianapolis police officials reported Saturday. .
Police did not say where Hole bought what they described as “assault rifles,” citing the ongoing investigation, but said he was seen using both rifles during the shooting.
Details on the make, model and caliber of the weapons will not be released until the investigation is completed, said Genae Cook, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.
Authorities said Hole killed eight people, four of them from the city’s Sikh community, at FedEx facilities Thursday afternoon before committing suicide.
The FBI said officers had questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to tell him her son could “commit suicide with a police officer.” According to a police report, officers grabbed a shotgun from Hole’s home after answering the call. Police said the weapon was never returned to him.
Republican Sen. Todd Young on Sunday called for more mental health services at all levels of government.
“We know we have a Hoosier family who asked for help, knowing they had a child who needed mental health treatment. We know we have members of our police community who, over a period of time, responded to that call for help. And we know that in the end, that wasn’t enough, ”he told The Associated Press before heading to a rally at Gurdwara Sikh Satsang, a Sikh house of worship in the eastern part of Indianapolis.
Young questioned whether Indiana’s red-flag laws were “enforced” to prevent the shooting.
Mark Bode, a spokesman for Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, said Sunday that his office also “continues to monitor closely the findings of the ongoing investigation and what advances in red flag law processes may have come into play “.
Indiana has a “red flag law” that allows police or courts to confiscate weapons from people who show signs of warning of violence since 2005. It became one of the first states to enact this law after a man from Indianapolis police were killed by one had to return weapons despite hospitalization months earlier to do a mental health emergency assessment.
The law seeks to prevent people from buying or owning a firearm if a judge finds them an “imminent risk” to themselves or other people.
Authorities have two weeks after seizing someone’s weapon to argue in court that the person should not be allowed to possess a weapon. Officials have not said whether Hole’s case was brought before a judge. Michael Leffler, a spokesman for the Marion County prosecutor, said Sunday that the office “is studying this matter.”
If Hole had a court hearing and prevailed, state law indicates that the shotgun would have been returned to him. However, if a judge considered him dangerous or incompetent, he should be banned from buying another weapon.
Gaganpal S. Dhaliwal, a member of the Sikh community who also spoke at the rally on Sunday, added that the families of the victims want to see “common sense weapons laws” and stricter policies on hate crimes.
“This shotgun was confiscated with a shotgun, but he was still able to get his rifles in hand,” Dhaliwal said. “We have to make sure the guns don’t end up in the wrong hands.”
Dhaliwal also applied for about two dozen quick visas from the U.S. and Indian governments to allow relatives to travel to funeral ceremonies that will take place in the next two weeks, he said.
Hole was a former FedEx facility employee who left work last year, police said. Authorities have not yet announced any possible motive for the attack.
Hole’s family said in a statement that they “feel a lot of the pain and sorrow” that their actions have caused.
The attack was again for the Asian American community a month after authorities said six people of Asian descent were killed by a gunman in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic.
About 90 percent of FedEx warehouse workers near Indianapolis International Airport are members of the local Sikh community, police said.
The shooting is the deadliest incident of collective violence in the U.S. Sikh community since 2012, when a white supremacist broke into a Wisconsin Sikh temple and shot dead ten people, killing seven.
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Casey Smith is a member of the body of the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a national nonprofit services program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on covert issues.