LA deputies shot in ambush sue Nevada ‘ghost gun’ kit maker

LOS ANGELES — Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies severely wounded successful an ambush shooting past twelvemonth sued a Nevada institution Monday for making the parts for a “ghost gun” utilized successful the attack.

The suit alleges Polymer80 Inc. negligently and unlawfully sold an “untraceable home-assembled weapon kit” that resulted successful the September attack.

It was the latest effort to woody with the proliferation of shade guns, which are enactment unneurotic from commercialized kits oregon parts bought online. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives doesn’t see the uncompleted kits to beryllium firearms, truthful buyers don’t person to acquisition the accustomed inheritance checks, and successful astir states the guns aren’t required to person serial numbers.

Law enforcement agencies accidental the weapons are progressively turning up astatine transgression scenes. Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore has said the guns present relationship for a 3rd of each weapons recovered by the LAPD. Federal officials accidental thousands person been seized successful transportation with transgression investigations.

The suit was filed connected behalf of deputies Claudia Apolinar and Emmanuel Perez-Perez, who were changeable and wounded Sept. 12 arsenic they sat successful their patrol car astatine a Metro obstruction presumption successful the Los Angeles suburb of Compton.

The attacker fired done the car’s rider window. Apolinar and Perez-Perez were changeable successful the caput and arms. Neither has been capable to instrumentality to work, according to the lawsuit.

Deonte Lee Murray was arrested 3 days aboriginal aft a nine-hour standoff with constabulary successful adjacent Lynwood. He pleaded not blameworthy to attempted execution and different charges and could look beingness successful authorities situation if convicted.

Investigators said a weapon Murray threw from a car model portion helium was being pursued matched the 1 utilized to sprout the deputies.

That limb was built from a Polymer80 kit, exemplary PF940c, according to the lawsuit.

The kit provided astir of the parts for a handgun and was compatible with Glock components, according to Polymer80’s website.

Murray was forbidden to bargain oregon person a weapon due to the fact that of erstwhile convictions for income and possession of narcotics, firearm possession, receiving stolen property, burglary and violent threats, authorities said.

The suit contends that Dayton, Nevada-based Polymer80, which holds a national firearms license, “purposefully sold their products without markings to marque it hard for instrumentality enforcement to hint the firearm.”

“Defendants knew and could foresee — but consciously disregarded the hazard — that they were creating and contributing to a nonstop and secondary marketplace for illegal, unserialized and untraceable guns, knowing that their firearms were apt to extremity up successful the hands of criminals and were apt to beryllium utilized for transgression purposes,” the suit contended.

The suit alleges the institution violated some national and California weapon laws.

Emails seeking remark from the institution weren’t instantly returned.

The ATF past December served a hunt warrant connected Polymer80 arsenic it investigated whether the institution evaded weapon laws by making and selling the kits.

However, connected its website, the institution said immoderate of its do-it-yourself kits, including the PF940C, were classified by the ATF “as not falling wrong the national explanation of ‘firearm.’”

The suit was filed by Everytown Law, which has sued respective different shade weapon parts providers. In February, it joined the metropolis of Los Angeles successful suing Polymer80 for allegedly creating a nationalist nuisance and violating the state’s concern code.

The anti-gun unit enactment besides filed a suit past twelvemonth against different weapon parts seller connected behalf of a teenaged miss who survived a 2019 shooting astatine Saugus High School successful the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita. A student, 16-year-old Nathan Berhow, opened occurrence with an unregistered gun, sidesplitting 2 different students and wounding 3 earlier shooting himself.

Also past year, the families of those killed and wounded successful a 2017 shooting rampage successful agrarian California sued manufacturers and sellers of shade weapon kits. Investigators said the shooter, Kevin Neal, manufactured an unregistered firearm to people an simple schoolhouse and randomly changeable astatine homes and motorists successful a agrarian subdivision astir 130 miles northbound of Sacramento. He killed his woman and 4 others earlier sidesplitting himself.