The gunman who went on a rampage in West Texas Saturday was deemed mentally unfit and had been banned from buying firearms in the criminal background check system, according to the Wall Street Journal.
36-year-old Seth Ator, who a neighbor described as a “violent, aggressive person,” killed seven people when he opened fire in an Odessa movie theater after being fired from his oil services job earlier that morning.
Authorities are investigating whether Ator bought the gun he used in the shooting.
Authorities Tuesday were still investigating how the gunman, 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator, was able to buy the AR-15 style rifle used in the attack, which left seven people dead and 22 wounded. including whether he bought the gun through a private sale, the officials said.
The gunman had earlier tried to buy a gun but failed because a nationwide criminal background system flagged the mental health determination by a local court and prevented the purchase, according to the officials.
The revelation that Ator was considered a prohibited person under federal firearms laws added a new dimension to the gun debate that intensified after the shootings in Midland and nearby Odessa, Texas, which came just weeks after mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. President Trump has expressed an openness to more comprehensive background checks for prospective gun buyers, but the case shows the difficulty of preventing mass shootings, as a stronger system wouldn’t necessarily have stopped a private sale. –Wall Street Journal –READ MORE