Omaha murders put spotlight on dangers of "straw purchase" gun deals

May 25, 2016, 6:45 a.m. ·

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Sometimes it’s not only the criminal who holds the gun, but the person who bought it.


Police photo of 9mm pistol with 50 cartridge magazine used to kill Officer Kerrie Orozco. (OPD)

Marcus Wheeler (Omaha Corrections)

U.S. Attorney Deb Gilg announces gang arrests with Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer. (Photo by Bill Kelly, NET News)

Last year Jalita Johnson walked out of a pawn shop in suburban Atlanta, Georgia with a Glock 9mm pistol equipped with a 50 round magazine. She gave it to her boyfriend Marcus Wheeler, a convicted felon who could not legally buy a gun. Before he was shot by police, Wheeler used it to murder Omaha police officer Kerrie Orozco three weeks later.

It was a classic “strawman” purchase of a firearm.

Orozco’s murder, along with a recent aggressive effort to break up drug-dealing gangs in Omaha, spotlighted the use of straw purchases on behalf of those who can’t buy weapons legally. The practice may be more prevalent than recognized and, according to law enforcement, a danger to the community.

U.S. Attorney for Nebraska Deborah Gilg told reporters recently “straw purchasers of firearms continue to be a major supplier to gangs so they can perpetrate their violence.” In 2015 Omaha recorded 50 homicides, the most since the police department began keeping an annual tally. Of those 38 were the result of gunshots and many were thought to be gang-related.

A straw purchase occurs when the actual buyer of a firearm uses another person to fill out the paperwork needed to make a purchase with a licensed gun dealer. Because the required forms ask “Are you the actual buyer of the firearm?” lying violates federal law. Nebraska has its own straw purchase laws as well.

The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms traces the origins of weapons in police investigations. John Ham, a senior investigator with the ATF says straw buyers are sought out when “you are a convicted felon, you are in the country illegally, (or) any number of reasons when you know you can’t walk into a gun store and buy that gun.”

Ham adds when a gun is used in a violent crime, the role of the gun buyer shouldn’t be minimized.

“There’s a lot of people who say, ‘Hey, I just bought the gun.’ We would argue you contributed to that criminal act in a pretty significant way,” Ham said.

(For more background on how straw purchases occur, CLICK HERE)

Investigators familiar with the activities of Omaha street gangs have found there are some individuals recruited because they have clean criminal records. Gang members unable to legally buy guns because of their convictions turn to the straw buyers.

The ATF identified Javon Murry as a frequent buyer.

The licensing paperwork he filled out for each purchase indicates he liked getting his guns at the Cabela’s store on the outskirts of Omaha. Within a year he bought seven pistols from the sporting goods retailer, generally 9mm pistols priced under $300. He also did business at the Trade ‘N’ Post in Fremont, Nebraska.

Javon Murry's handwritten statement about the guns he was convicted of acquiring for gang members through a "straw purchase." (Federal Court Records)

Murry would say later “he purchased all of his firearms ‘for collecting, fun, and recreation’” as well as his own protection. Omaha police kept finding his pistols at crime scenes. One of the Glock 9MM pistols he had purchased was found during a drug raid of a home occupied by the 44th Avenue Crips. Another was recovered from a gang member and felon after a foot chase with police.

The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms traced the serial numbers of one gun after another back to Murry. While he never seemed to be around when the shooting started, police suspected Murry worked as a strawman gun buyer for a drug-dealing gang in Omaha.

A federal grand jury indicted him on 16 counts, two charges for each of eight weapons purchased, related to making false statements on the licensing paperwork. Last summer Murry accepted a plea agreement, admitting to two of the charges. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.

(For information about tracing of firearms recovered in Nebraska, CLICK HERE)

A majority of gun stores surveyed in the United States reported someone attempted to buy a gun illegally for someone else. Nearly 7 out of 10 firearm dealers “experienced attempted straw purchases” according to research published in 2013 by the journal Injury Prevention.

John McIntyre, the owner of Nebraska Gun on the fringe of downtown Lincoln says he encounters someone making an attempt “once or twice a year.”

Jeff McIntyre, owner of Nebraska Gun, behind the counter of his Lincoln store. Below, the sign at the back of the shop. (Photos by Bill Kelly, NET News)

“We do get people who assume because we are a small business we don’t know there are laws and, you know, that they can pull stuff,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre believes “it’s actually quite hard to get a straw purchase done” at his business, a small “classic gun shop” specializing in the re-sale of sport and military guns. Having a regular customer base helps, but with 25 years in the business he says he has a sense of when “someone is up to no good.”

The warning signs McIntyre looks for are very similar to those listed by the ATF in materials distributed to alert dealers to potential straw purchases.

When a customer immediately names a specific gun and can tell him where in the store to find it, McIntyre sees that as an indication “they had been told it was here.”

If he senses it’s “not a normal shopping process” it raises suspicions the buyer had been sent into the store to make the purchase.

“I don’t immediately stop a sale like that. I usually ask some leading questions. Kind of feel them out,” McIntyre said. There are times when the straw buyer brings another person to the store and it quickly becomes apparent they are organizing the illegal purchase.

When a visitor begins to ask McIntyre “Isn’t that kind of …” he quickly inserts “stupid” with a laugh.

McIntyre says his diligence in watching for straw purchasers becomes a defense against the kind of government regulation that rankles some gun sellers and owners.

“The better the industry does to guarantee that law-abiding persons are the only ones who can acquire guns through the industry, then the industry is doing nothing wrong,” McIntyre said. “The sloppier the industry would be in allowing illegal purchasing, then the more guilty we are and the more righteous it would be to regulate us further.”

For years the ATF has trained gun store managers and employees in how to detect and prevent straw purchasers. The program is called “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy.”

Nationwide, the prosecution record of the U.S. Department of Justice raised the ire of some members of Congress. Only a tiny fraction of the cases brought forward were actually prosecuted.

In 2013 former ATF director B. Todd Jones conceded of the 48,321 cases recorded involving straw buyers, the Justice Department prosecuted only 44. Jones said not advancing straw purchase cases involved “hard decisions” based on “limited resources” within the federal justice system. By 2014 the number of prosecutions had increased to 125.

U.S. Attorney Gilg promised aggressive prosecution of straw purchasers at the Omaha press conference in January.

“If there is somebody out there or individuals out there who are going to help their favorite gang member by going to purchase a firearm for them, you are in trouble and we are coming after you too.”