'No amount of checking could have kept those guns from that man,' says Mike Hegerfeld, resident agent in charge at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in Orlando. A felony aggravated assault charge filed against him in Kentucky several years before - when he shot and wounded a family friend - had been reduced to a misdemeanor through plea-bargaining.Ī month after buying the gun, Cruse grabbed his Ruger, plenty of ammunition and went on a rampage, shooting 18 people, killing six, before surrendering to Palm Bay police on April 23. The form asked if he ever had been convicted of a felony. The penalty for falsifying the forms is up to five years' imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.Īlthough Cruse indeed had spent time in a mental hospital, he truthfully answered no, because he had admitted himself.
