Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears failed to pursue court hearings that could have prevented a former FedEx employee from accessing the guns used to shoot and kill eight people at the company’s facility Mirabel Road in Indianapolis.
Authorities confiscated a pump-action shotgun from the shooter in March 2020 after his mother called police to report that her son might commit “suicide by cop.”
That weapon was seized under Indiana’s controversial red flag law, which contains language that explicitly allowed Mears to ask the court to ban the shooter from legally purchasing additional firearms in the future. That never happened.
In the wake of the FedEx massacre, Mears chose to blame “loopholes” in the system and push for stricter legislation rather than accept blame for his failure to fully leverage Indiana’s existing red flag law.
“This individual was taken and treated by medical professionals and he was cut loose,” and was not even prescribed any medication, Mears said. “The risk is, if we move forward with that (red flag) process and lose, we have to give that firearm back to that person. That’s not something we were willing to do.”
Did you catch that? Mears didn’t want to ask the court to consider banning the suspect from owning weapons in the future because he might lose and be forced to return the shotgun that was already seized. That refusal by Mears to use the existing law contributed to the deaths of eight people.
Of course, Mears doesn’t see it that way.
“I think this case illustrates the limitations” of the law,” Mears said.
Indianapolis Fraternal Order of the Police President Rick Snyder rightfully stated last week that Mears “failed to do his part.” to prevent the FedEx shooter from obtaining the weapons used in the massacre.
Snyder said IMPD has made at least 45 red flag referrals to the prosecutor’s office so far this year, but Mears said Monday that his office has only filed eight red flag petitions since January.
Republican state Sen. Erin Houchin, who sponsored the 2019 changes to Indiana’s red flag law that would have allowed the prosecutor to do more, said the legislation “could have worked just as it should” in the case of the FedEx shooter.
“I think that had the prosecutor followed the red flag procedure in this case, then this 19-year-old might have not been able to purchase a second firearm after the family did voluntarily turn over that weapon,” Houchin said.
Hammer and Nigel spoke with “Gun Guy” and attorney Guy Relford Monday about Indiana’s red flag law and Mears’ comments. Click the link below to listen.
https://omny.fm/shows/hammer-and-nigel-show/the-gun-guy-guy-relford-talks-fed-ex-red-flag-blam
