New Hope Police Chief Tim Fournier and
his department were still reeling from the ambush shooting of two officers by a
mentally unstable man when the investigation took a startling twist. The
12-gauge pistol-grip Stoeger shotgun wielded by attacker Raymond Kmetz had come
from the Duluth Police Department.
That
department followed all state and federal laws when it sold the gun and 45
other confiscated hunting guns to the public over the last two years. Kmetz,
who was prohibited from owning a gun because of his mental health history,
ordered it from an online auction site and had a friend pick it up in an
illegal “straw” purchase at a gun shop in Princeton, Minn.
On
Jan. 26, Kmetz, 68, took the gun to New Hope City Hall, where he shot the two
officers. Other officers returned fire, killing him.
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