Man sentenced to prison for selling ammunition to Las Vegas massacre shooter

An Arizona man on Tuesday was sentenced to 13 months in prison for selling illegally manufactured ammunition to the gunman who opened fire on the crowd of a 2017 Las Vegas concert, killing 59 people and leaving hundreds of others injured.

Douglas Haig, 57, pleaded guilty in November to the federal charge of manufacturing ammunition without a license, The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. He has until Oct. 2 to surrender himself for his sentence.

His inventory of more than 600 points of various ammunition and ammunition components are now subject to government forfeiture and Haig will not be allowed to own a gun as part of his felony plea.

Haig admitted to selling the rounds to shooter Stephen Paddock before he opened fire on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest festival from across the street at the Mandalay Bay hotel on Oct. 1, 2017.

Investigators allegedly found ammunition with reloading tool marks packed into an Amazon shipping box that listed Haig’s address at the scene of the shooting. Additional ammunition that Haig sold Paddock was loaded into five other rifles and one magazine in the hotel suite Paddock fired from, but Haig’s attorney said none of those rounds were used in the shooting.

Haig operated his personal ammunition business, Specialized Military Ammunition, out of a workshop at his home in Arizona, the outlet reported.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Lopez argued that the ammunition Haig manufactured was “armor piercing,” which is prohibited by federal law.

“What is crystal clear is that this ammunition is incredibly dangerous,” Lopez said, adding that Haig “ignored the dangers in the pursuit of profit.”

Haig sold his personally manufactured ammunition online and at gun shows.

He recalled first meeting Paddock at a gun show in Phoenix, saying he remembered Paddock wearing gloves inside-out as “one weird thing he did” but added that Paddock did not have “nervous tics.” He said Paddock was well-groomed and never indicated his terror plot.

Officials have never accused Haig of having any prior knowledge of Paddock’s plans.

“The thought of being associated with Paddock is sickening to me,” Haig said. “What makes it even harder is that if I had not been illegally manufacturing ammunition, I never would have met him.”

The attack is the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history and initially left 58 concertgoers dead and hundreds more injured. A 59th shooting victim died in November, more than two years after the massacre. 

Haig’s sentencing is the only criminal case to stem from the Las Vegas massacre, since Paddock fatally shot himself before he could be detained. 

Senior U.S. District Judge James Mahan noted that Haig’s punishment is separate from the incident.

“The person who did that, who committed that reprehensible act, we can only hope now that he’s being punished for eternity,” Mahan said. “He’s escaped punishment on this earth.”