Ammunition Seller of Vegas Shooter Charged in Connection of Shooting

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Shane Bassett, Ranger Review Editor

The investigation on the Las Vegas shooting that occured back in 2017 on October 1st has lead back to the ammunition seller that Stephen Paddock, the person who committed one of the biggest mass shootings in the U.S., had gone to get his ammunition. The seller has been identified as a “person of interest” in the mass shooting for selling modified ammunition.

The ammunition seller, Douglas Haig, a 55 year old aerodynamic engineer, had illegally manufactured and modified bullets to be armor-piercing rounds to be shot out of a large automatic weapon. Haig then sold these rounds with 750 rounds of tracer bullets. These when fired leave a thin trail of light in the air to indicates its trajectory and are commonly used for shooting practice.

Haig at first was under the radar when the investigations began after Paddock attacked the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a country music concert, from a hotel room in the Mandalay Bay Resort. The investigation eventually brought the evidence that showed the fingerprints of Haig among various rounds of the ammunition found in Paddock’s hotel room. Haig’s name was also found on the boxes the rounds were contained in.

The spotlight now directed towards Haig had him interviewed by the FBI. Haig claimed that Paddock would come periodically throughout the weeks following to the shooting and spotted nothing that raised red flags. Haig has said that Paddock even passed all background checks. Within two weeks  before the shooting on October 1st, Haig said that Paddock talked about  wanting to “put on a light show”.

The investigation soon brought to surface of the selling of illegally manufactured ammunition to Paddock being done by Haig. Investigators are charging him for such and if convicted, could face up five years in federal prison and/or pay a fine of up to $250,000. According, to NPR news Haig defends himself by stating,  “I had no contribution to what Paddock did. I had no way to see into his mind. The product that I sold him had absolutely nothing to do with what he did.”