EASTPOINTE, Mich. (WXYZ) — The owner of an Eastpointe gun shop that sold a pistol later used to kill a Detroit police officer says he will no longer sell the firearm to customers.
“I’ve never liked it,” said Bill Kucyk, the owner of Action Impact in Eastpointe and Farmington Hills. “I’ve also learned that when a particular gun gets a lot of publicity, people will come to the store to buy that gun just because of that publicity.”
According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the gun — a Draco 7.62 caliber pistol — was purchased in June by Sheldon Thomas at the direction of his friend, Ehmani Davis.
Police said that on July 6, Davis shot and killed Detroit police officer Loren Courts before officers opened fire on Davis, killing him.
“I don’t like being associated with this, but we didn’t do anything wrong,” Kucyk said. “The clown that bought the gun did something wrong.”
While Kucyk said he “never liked” the Draco pistol, he said he still sold it up until recently because “it doesn’t mean other people don’t like it.”
Kucyk first learned that his Eastpointe gun shop may have sold the gun used to kill Courts when his store received a trace request for the Draco pistol from the FBI last week.
The trace was marked “urgent.”
Surveillance video showed that Davis entered the store on May 29. He was not alone.
With him was his friend, Thomas. According to the feds, Thomas tried to buy the gun that day, but his background check produced a “delayed” response.
Thomas would have to return nine days later when he was ultimately cleared to buy the pistol. But this time, he was by himself.
According to the ATF, after buying the pistol, Thomas left the store and met Davis down the street at a White Castle, where he gave him the gun.
The sale is considered a straw purchase, according to Detroit ATF Special Agent in Charge Paul Vanderplow, and carries a penalty of up to 10 year in prison and a $250,000 fine.
“You have that person go in, fill out the form fraudulently and say the gun is for the purchaser," he said. "When in essence it’s for the person who can’t have.”
Vanderplow says because Davis was under 21, he was precluded from buying the pistol himself.
"If you’re going to put a gun in someone’s hands that shouldn’t have it, we are going to come find you,” Vanderplow said.
Kucyk says his staff is devastated knowing that a gun they sold was used to kill a Detroit officer, and prides itself on weeding out what it suspects are straw purchases.
“My staff is very good. We’re constantly training and practicing and looking for signs of straw purchases,” he said, “And they’re really good at it because we’ll find two or three a week that we think are happening and we’ll shut down those down.”
But according to the ATF, they missed this one.
Thomas, who the feds say was paid $50 to purchase the gun by Davis, remains in federal custody.
