The man who sold the AR-15 rifle used to shoot 32 people in the West Texas towns of Midland and Odessa last year has pleaded guilty to a gun crime, U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox announced Wednesday in a Justice Department news release, USA Today reported.
Marcus Anthony Braziel, 45, of Lubbock, pleaded guilty to one count of dealing firearms without a license and one count of subscribing to a false tax return before U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix on Wednesday. “If you’re a firearms dealer — whether you’re selling out of a brick-and-mortar store, in your basement, or online — you must ensure that a background check is conducted on your purchasers,” said Cox.
Braziel entered a guilty plea roughly a month after surviving family members of the mass shooting filed a separate lawsuit seeking more than $1 million in damages against both Braziel and an arms manufacturer.
