The gunman who killed seven people and wounded 23 others in a rolling rampage across West Texas obtained an assault-style rifle despite failing a background check, American state and law enforcement officials said on Monday.
On Saturday, the gunman, identified by police as white male Seth Aaron Ator, 36 , carried out the shooting spree in the neighboring cities of Midland and Odessa , a short time after he was fired from his trucking job. He called local emergency 911 responders and then an FBI tip line to make rambling statements, officials said.
In those calls, Ator did not threaten to c ommit violence , they said.
But he would soon go on to open fire on civilians and police officers in a roving series of shootings, at one point hijacking a U.S. Postal Service truck before dying in an exchange of gunfire with law enforcement, police said.
It was the second mass shooting in Texas in four weeks, and on Monday, the state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott , expressed frustration the suspect had a firearm.
“ We must keep guns out of criminals’ hands ,” Abbott said on Twitter.
Ator was rejected when he tried to buy a gun and his name was run through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System , John Wester, assistant special agent in charge of the Dallas office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, told a news conference.
Authorities could not immediately say how he obtained a firearm , Wester added.
It also was not immediately clear when or why he had failed the background check. Online court records showed Ator had convictions in 2002 for criminal trespass and evading arrest.
But Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke told a news conference on Monday that Ator’s past interactions with police in that area, where the gunman lived, were not serious enough to have legally prevented him from having a firearm.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump called the Odessa-Midland shooter “a very sick person,” but said increased background checks on gun buyers would not have prevented many mass shootings in the United States in the past few years.
Democrats
in Congress want to close loopholes that under federal law, allow certain people to sell firearms without requiring background checks , such as in sales conducted online, at gun shows or out of their homes.
Last month, Trump said he had spoken to the National Rifle Association gun rights group about closing loopholes in background checks but he did not want to take away the constitutional right to own guns .
In remarks to reporters on Sunday, Trump said he would be working with Democrats and Republicans on gun legislation when Congress returns this month. “I think you’re going to see some interesting things coming along,” he said.
PULLED OVER
Hours after he was fired from his trucking job and 15 minutes after he called the FBI tip line, Ator was pulled over in a sedan by Texas state troopers on Interstate 20 in Midland for failing to use a turn signal, police said.
Armed with an AR-type rifle , Ator fired out the back window of his gold-colored car, wounding one trooper. Then he drove away spraying gunfire indiscriminately , the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
At one point, Ator abandoned his car and hijacked a U.S. postal van , mortally wounding the letter carrier, identified by officials as Mary Granados, 29 .
“At some point, the suspect stole a mail truck and ditched his car,” Gerke said. He drove the mail truck back east, pursued by police, before crashing into a stationary vehicle behind the Odessa Cinergy multiplex complex , where he engaged in a gun battle with police and was shot dead , Gerke said.
He shot seven people to death, leaving behind a trail of 15 crime scenes with 23 other people wounded in the rampage, officials said.
Among the wounded was a 17-month-old girl, Anderson Davis , who was shot in the face, according to officials and an online fundraising campaign started by her family.
Three police officers were shot and wounded - one from Midland , one from Odessa and one state trooper - all in stable condition at hospitals.
Ator was later cornered by officers in the parking lot of a cinema complex in Odessa where he was shot and killed .
The FBI has scoured Ator’s home , Christopher Combs, a special agent in charge of the FBI office in San Antonio, told a news conference on Monday.
“I can tell you the conditions reflect what we believe his mental state was going into this,” Combs said.
“He was on a long spiral of going down. He didn’t wake up Saturday morning and walk into his company and then it happened. He went into that company in trouble. He’s probably been in trouble for a while ,” Combs said.
The rampage came about a month after a gunman from the Dallas area killed 22 people on August 3 at a Walmart store about 255 miles (410 km) west of Midland in El Paso, Texas.
Authorities have said the shooter was known to police and lived locally. Authorities said the investigation continues, but there was no apparent link to domestic or international terrorism.
“There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point, but we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone,” Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said at a news conference.
Texas Governor Greg Abbot praised first responders and medical personnel, and told reporters that the hurt felt by the victims was “ incalculable .”
And he read a text message he received from the wounded toddler’s mother, thanking everyone for their prayers.
“I have been to too many of these events,” Abbot said, reciting the shootings in Dallas, Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe High School and El Paso that have happened since he became governor in 2015.
“I’m heartbroken by the crying of the people of the state of Texas. I’m tired of the dying of the people of the state of Texas ... the status quo in Texas is unacceptable, and action is needed ,” Abbot said.
The letter carrier of the U.S. Postal Service who was shot by Ator was the 29 years-old Mary Granados , who was born in Mexico , according to information released by Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Marcelo Ebrard .
Mary Granados was by the end of her shift and was speaking on the phone with her twin sister while driving a white van of the U.S. Postal Service when she was shot by Ator who also took the van.
Mary’s twin sister, Rosie , heard Mary scream, a shot, and then nothing. “I thought a dog had bit her or something. I called her name but had no answer ,” she said to CNN .
“He could have taken the van without killing her… He didn’t have to take my sister ,” Rosie commented later to CBS .
Mary’s co-workers describe her as a joyful person .
The Postal Service issued a declaration to express their “ impact and sadness ” for the shooting and for having “lost a member of our postal family.”
“We were a single person,” said Rosie to CNN. “And now a part of me is missing . I wish I could get her back, but I just simply can’t,” she added.
A friend of Mary, Leslie Aide , organized a GoFundMe campaign to obtain resources for the family.
“I had the privilege of working with Mary in the past. She was beautiful, both inside and outside, with a big heart and always ready to be a friend. She always had a smile on her face!” she commented on the page where voluntary donations are made and that had already raised USD $42,365 when the goal was USD $20,000 .
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