Minnesota Attorney General files lawsuit against Fleet Farm stores

Research and Drafting: Madison Piepho

Minnesota General Attorney, Keith Ellison, announced on October 5, 2022, that his office filed a lawsuit making a series of serious allegations against Fleet Farm stores for their alleged negligence in selling firearms to “straw purchasers,” in aiding and abetting criminals such as Jerome Horton, and in contributing to the serious gun trafficking issues throughout Minnesota. The term “straw purchasers” loosely refers to a person who purchases firearms with the intent to sell them to a person who is legally prohibited from possessing the firearm (due, for example, to a felony conviction, a record of domestic violence, and/or a person that may be prohibited from possession of a firearm under Minnesota law or Federal law based on mental illness or age).

During the peak of the pandemic, it was believed that Fleet Farm had sold at least 37 firearms to two straw purchasers within 16 months.

On October 10, 2021, a mass shooting occurred near the Seventh Street Truck Park Bar in Saint Paul, Minnesota. One 27-year-old woman lost her life and 14 bystanders were injured. The firearms used in the mass shooting allegedly could be traced back to Fleet Farm’s sales to Jerome Horton. The suspects are alleged to have attempted to discard the firearms at a home wherein a 6-year-old boy discovered one of them.

Jerome Horton and Terry Brown were both federally indicted for the murder of Ms. Wiley and have been charged with several additional counts of attempted murder.