Gun store that sold AR-15 to school shooter closes shop

Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The owners of the gun shop where charged high school shooter Nikolas Cruz bought his weapon are distraught, in hiding and have closed the store, their lawyers said.

Michael and Lisa Morrison, owners of Sunrise Tactical Supply in Coral Springs, Fla., sold the AR-15 automatic rifle to Cruz in February 2017, lawyer Stuart Kaplan said Thursday. He added that the Morrisons told him that Cruz passed a federal background check, returned for the unaltered weapon a week after it was purchased and did not buy additional ammunition other than the magazine which came in the box containing the weapon.

They had no reason to suspect he was planning to carry out an attack, he said.

Seventeen people died in a shooting attack on Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., on Wednesday. Cruz, a former student there, was arrested and charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Kaplan said that Cruz properly filled out ATF Form 4473, required by the U.S. Department of Justice, to obtain the weapon, and presented appropriate identification. He answered "no" to questions on the form regarding whether he had been adjudicated for mental illness or whether he had been institutionalized for a mental health illness.

Another Morrison attorney, Douglas Rudman, said that if they were aware that Cruz was "this ticking time bomb, they would have used their discretion in not selling him this weapon."

Rudman added that the store owners are distraught over "the tremendous sense of responsibility in this situation ... They are scared, not for their safety or not just for their safety, but more importantly for how the reaction is going to be from the rest of the community when they try to re-enter it."