BFF-23 US shooting suspect’s mother called police over son’s gun: lawyers

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US shooting suspect’s mother called police over son’s gun: lawyers

WASHINGTON, Aug 8, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The mother of a young man suspected of
gunning down 22 people at a Walmart in the US state of Texas called police
weeks before, concerned about a military-style weapon he owned, the family’s
lawyers told CNN.

The report comes with bipartisan sentiment for action on gun safety
appearing to grow after the killings in El Paso and another mass shooting
hours later in Dayton, Ohio that left nine people dead.

CNN reported that the mother of the El Paso suspect, Patrick Crusius, had
called police in the Dallas suburb of Allen weeks before the attack because
she was concerned about his owning an “AK”-type firearm, the network quoted
family lawyers as saying.

AK usually refers to a Kalashnikov, a type of semi-automatic rifle.

The lawyers, Chris Ayres and R. Jack Ayres, of Dallas, told CNN that
Crusius’s mother was worried given her son’s age, maturity level and lack of
experience with such a weapon.

They added that, during the call, a police officer told her that — based
on what she described — her 21-year-old son was legally able to purchase the
weapon.

But the mother’s call was “informational” and not motivated out of a
concern that her son posed a threat, the lawyers said, adding the mother did
not give police her name or her son’s name.

“This was not a volatile, explosive, erratic behaving kid,” CNN quoted
Chris Ayres as saying. “It’s not like alarm bells were going off.”

Chris Ayres could not immediately be reached when AFP contacted his law
office.

Asked about the CNN report, Sergeant Jon Felty, of the Allen Police
Department, told AFP: “I have nothing in our database to support this claim.”

About 20 minutes before the rampage with a semi-automatic weapon, Crusius,
who is white, posted a four-page white supremacist “manifesto” on the online
forum 8chan that railed against Hispanics.

Several of those killed were Mexicans.

After the shootings, US President Donald Trump faced protests that his
rhetoric on race has fuelled extremism.

In an address to the nation on Monday, Trump rejected racism and white
supremacist ideology, and said he supported “red flag” laws allowing
authorities to confiscate weapons from people believed to present grave
risks.

BSS/AFP/ARS/2035 hrs