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AK-47 that killed student was Chinese
Gun was shipped to U.S. in '91
Wednesday April 23, 2003
By Leslie Williams
Staff writer
The military-style assault weapon used to kill a McDonogh Senior High School student last week in the school gym began its ill-fated journey in China almost 12 years ago when it was still legal to import.
The semiautomatic AK-47, manufactured by Northern China Industries, was shipped to SILE Distributors Inc. in New York on June 2, 1991, said Capt. Marlon Defillo, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department.
Later that month, the weapon was sold to a gun dealer in the New Orleans area. A customer bought the AK-47 in August 1991, said Defillo, who declined to provide more information for fear it would compromise the murder investigation. So far, seven teens have been arrested on charges of first-degree murder and another on a charge of accessory after the fact in the death of Jonathan "Caveman" Williams, 15.
The AK-47 used in the April 14 shooting is legal because it was manufactured and imported before a ban on such weapons went into effect on Sept. 13, 1994, said Bob Browning, assistant special agent in charge of the New Orleans field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A handgun also was used in the shooting at John McDonogh, in which three other students were wounded by gunfire, but the assault weapon has attracted more attention.
Steve Lenkart, spokesman for the Virginia-based International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the largest police union in the AFL-CIO, cited the New Orleans school killing as further evidence that the nation should continue its ban on importing and manufacturing AK-47s and other military-style assault weapons. The federal weapons law will expire in the fall of 2004 unless Congress extends it, he said.
For about nine years the law has kept military-style assault weapons from being manufactured in the United States or imported into the country, Lenkart said.
The shooting at the school is "clear evidence that these military-style weapons have no place in a peaceful community and especially not within the halls and gymnasiums of our public schools," said Lenkart, who expressed sympathy for the families and school community, including the more than 100 students who were in the gym during the killing.
President Bush recently announced his support for renewing the ban and "the IBPO now joins with our national law enforcement leaders and President Bush in urging Congress to take action," Lenkart said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1051079307249760.xml
Gun was shipped to U.S. in '91
Wednesday April 23, 2003
By Leslie Williams
Staff writer
The military-style assault weapon used to kill a McDonogh Senior High School student last week in the school gym began its ill-fated journey in China almost 12 years ago when it was still legal to import.
The semiautomatic AK-47, manufactured by Northern China Industries, was shipped to SILE Distributors Inc. in New York on June 2, 1991, said Capt. Marlon Defillo, a spokesman for the New Orleans Police Department.
Later that month, the weapon was sold to a gun dealer in the New Orleans area. A customer bought the AK-47 in August 1991, said Defillo, who declined to provide more information for fear it would compromise the murder investigation. So far, seven teens have been arrested on charges of first-degree murder and another on a charge of accessory after the fact in the death of Jonathan "Caveman" Williams, 15.
The AK-47 used in the April 14 shooting is legal because it was manufactured and imported before a ban on such weapons went into effect on Sept. 13, 1994, said Bob Browning, assistant special agent in charge of the New Orleans field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
A handgun also was used in the shooting at John McDonogh, in which three other students were wounded by gunfire, but the assault weapon has attracted more attention.
Steve Lenkart, spokesman for the Virginia-based International Brotherhood of Police Officers, the largest police union in the AFL-CIO, cited the New Orleans school killing as further evidence that the nation should continue its ban on importing and manufacturing AK-47s and other military-style assault weapons. The federal weapons law will expire in the fall of 2004 unless Congress extends it, he said.
For about nine years the law has kept military-style assault weapons from being manufactured in the United States or imported into the country, Lenkart said.
The shooting at the school is "clear evidence that these military-style weapons have no place in a peaceful community and especially not within the halls and gymnasiums of our public schools," said Lenkart, who expressed sympathy for the families and school community, including the more than 100 students who were in the gym during the killing.
President Bush recently announced his support for renewing the ban and "the IBPO now joins with our national law enforcement leaders and President Bush in urging Congress to take action," Lenkart said.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/neworleans/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1051079307249760.xml
