The suspected assailant in the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas allegedly bought the ammunition he used to kill 10 people illegally from an online retailer despite being underage at the time, a lawsuit says.
According to the court filing, Dimitrios Pagourtzis, then a 17-year-old high school junior, allegedly used a prepaid American Express gift card to illegally purchase more than 100 rounds of ammunition on two occasions from online retailer Lucky Gunner, which never verified his age.
The website broke federal law by selling the ammunition to a minor, the amended petition alleges.
The allegations are the centerpiece of an amended petition to a lawsuit originally filed more than a year ago by victims’ families and survivors against Pagourtzis and his parents, as well as other parties. Lucky Gunner is named as a respondent in the amended petition.
“Even though Pagourtzis was too young to legally purchase or possess handgun ammunition under federal law, Lucky Gunner did not require that he provide identification or proof of age,” the petition alleges.
RELATED: Texas High School Mass Shooting: 10 Killed, Including Students; Suspect Charged
Though Lucky Gunner says on its website that it doesn’t sell ammunition to anyone under 21, which federal law prohibits, the retailer “takes no meaningful steps” to verify customers’ ages, the petition alleges. “Instead, in less than 2 minutes, Lucky Gunner’s automated system approved his purchase.”
Lucky Gunner released a statement Sunday night to Click2Houston. “Our hearts go out to the families and victims affected by the tragedy in Santa Fe,” it reads.
“Contrary to the claims,” it continues, “our company complied with all laws in making the subject sale; the suspect committed many crimes to include deliberately misrepresenting himself.”
Armed with a shotgun and revolver he took from his father, who legally purchased the weapons but allegedly left them unsecured in the family’s home, on May 18, 2018, Pagourtzis then went on his deadly rampage.
“This is upsetting that his age wasn’t verified at all,” Rhonda Hart, who lost her daughter, Kimberly Vaughan, 14, tells PEOPLE.
Even more alarming, she says, is that this is the same website where the gunman in the 2012 Aurora Colorado, massacre, allegedly bought his ammunition, the lawyer for the families told them, says Hart, and which outlets, including The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have reported.
“After Aurora, why didn’t the website change its practices?” says Hart. “Why didn’t they add in age verification to their practices? There is no background system in place if you are not of age.”
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Charged with capital murder, Pagourtzis’s trial was set to begin in February. But in December, he was declared incompetent to stand trial and is being held at a mental health facility where he is being treated in hopes of helping him regain competency to stand trial, his attorney said at the time, KHOU reports.
Pagourtzis’s attorney, Nick Poehl, and Red Stag, Lucky Gunner’s fulfillment company, said they had no comment at this time.
An attorney for the families did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
Lucky Gunner released a statement to PEOPLE, saying, “Our hearts go out to the families and victims affected by the tragedy in Santa Fe.
“Contrary to the claims,” it continues, “our company complied with all laws in making the subject sale; the suspect committed many crimes to include deliberately misrepresenting himself.”
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