The man who sold ammunition to Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was arrested on Friday on charges of manufacturing and selling armor-piercing bullets without having the proper licensing, in violation of federal law.
Federal agents searched Douglas Haig’s home in Arizona on October 19 after finding his fingerprints on unfired armor-piercing ammunition inside Paddock’s hotel room at Mandalay Bay. CNN reports:
A criminal complaint says two unfired .308-caliber rounds found in gunman Stephen Paddock’s room had Douglas Haig’s fingerprints on them and tool marks from Haig’s workshop. The bullets in the cartridges were classified as armor-piercing, the complaint says.
Haig did not have a license to manufacture armor-piercing ammunition, documents say.
Haig and Paddock first met at a gun show in Phoenix approximately one month before the shooting. Paddock later came to Haig’s home in Mesa, Arizona, “to buy 720 rounds of tracer ammunition, which leaves behind a trail of light when it is used,” The New York Times reports. “Mr. Paddock asked for a box to carry the rounds to his car and Mr. Haig gave him a used box that included his name and address. That was their only transaction, he said.”
“I had no contribution to what Paddock did,” Haig said. “I had no way to see into his mind. The product that I sold him had absolutely nothing to do with what he did. I’m a vendor. I’m a merchant whose name was released.”
Haig’s attorney, Marc Victor, maintains that Haig has nothing to hide and told reporters Friday that his client chose to speak to the press only to “protect his reputation.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives first approached Haig just 11 hours after Paddock’s shooting spree. Haig told reporters that he gave authorities the samples they requested and answered questions “without any hesitation.”
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