Federal officials say Texas mass shooter Devin Kelley did not modify his semi-automatic rifle with a “bump stock,” which was used by the Las Vegas killer in his rampage five weeks ago.
“All indications now is that it’s a semi-automatic weapon,” Fred Milanowski of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said during a Tuesday press conference. “There’s no evidence of a bump stock being used.”
Bump stocks use the gun’s natural recoil to help shooters pull the trigger quicker, effectively turning a semi-automatic gun — which requires a trigger pull for each round fired — into the functional equivalent of a fully automatic weapon.
Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock used several of the devices when he attacked an outdoor concert in October.
Milanowski and other officials acknowledged that empty 30-round magazines were recovered following the shooting, but declined to say how many bullets gunman Devin Kelley fired when he killed 26 churchgoers and wounded another 20 on Sunday, or how many magazines he went through.
“A lot of that trajectory work is being done this morning,” said Texas Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin.
It was revealed Monday that the US Air Force failed to alert the FBI that Kelley pleaded guilty to assault and aggravated assault in military court in 2012, which should have barred him from buying guns, including the four he’s purchased since 2014.
Kelley is not the first person to slip through the cracks, according to FBI agent Christopher Combs.
“Unfortunately this has happened in the past from a number of agencies — nothing is perfect,” he said.
Kelley bought two guns while living in Texas over the last two years, and two others in Colorado in 2014 and 2015.
Texas DPS denied Kelley a permit to carry pistols on his person, but officials refused to say why his history raised red flags when he applied for a concealed-carry permit but not when he bought the guns.
“That’s protected information,” Martin said.