The gun used in a 2013 gang-style shooting in Phoenix, Arizona has been traced to an ill-fated Obama administration program that tried in vain to track firearms across the Mexican border to drug kingpins, and grisly pictures released Thursday show the aftermath.

Carlos Rocha-Lopez and Jobani Flores were shot and left for dead by a criminal assailant who got his AK-47 rifle along with 39 other guns on a single day from a single store because the federal government instructed a gun dealer to sell them to him.

Judicial Watch, a center-right watchdog group, obtained the disturbing images through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Department of Justice, whose Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ran the failed 'Operation Fast and Furious' program that put the military-style rifle on the streets.

The group's investigators matched up the serial number from the gun in crime-scene photos to a weapon the federal government allowed to 'walk' across America's southern border.

BLOODY SHOOTING: A Phoenix apartment where two people were shot with a gun purchased as part of the federal government program

The AK-47: A legal gun to own, but ATF agents instructed gun dealers to sell hundreds of them to people they knew would sneak them into Mexico

AFTERMATH: Jobani Flores was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries

'Attorney General Eric Holder has already admitted that guns from the Fast and Furious scandal are expected to be used in criminal activity on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border for years to come,' Judicial Watch said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

Press reports at the time of the shooting that wounded two people described an AK-47 rifle in the front passenger compartment of a vehicle that had crashed into a fence surrounding an apartment complex.

US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot to death by a Mexican national with a gun put into circulation by Operation Fast and Furious

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley and California Rep. Darryl Issa, both Republicans, confirmed in an October 16 letter to Deputy Attorney General James Cole that the serial number on the gun matched one of the 2,000 Fast and Furious guns that the DOJ instructed gun dealers to sell to 'straw' purchasers.

In this case, the buyer purchased 40 guns in a single day – all while under the watchful eye of the ATF.

'We can confirm that the assault rifle recovered in the vehicle on July 30, 2013, was purchased by Sean Christopher Stewart,' the senators wrote.

'Stewart pled guilty to firearms trafficking charges resulting from his involvement with Operation Fast and Furious.'

'Stewart purchased this particular firearm on December 8, 2009, one of 40 that he purchased that day while under ATF surveillance.'

Three weeks after the Phoenix shooting, detectives federal investigators from the Department of Homeland Security found numerous rifles and handguns after they served search warrants in the case.

SERIAL NUMBER: Judicial Watch reported that members of Congress confirmed this gun, used in the shooting, was part of the arms cache released into criminals' hands by the Justice Department

Carlos Rocha-Lopez, another shooting victim, was bloodied so badly that his wallet was soaked through

SCENE OF THE CRIME: The grisly photos were made public as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit

Homeland Security's involvement was a signal that the Obama administration was taking an unusual interest in the case, according to Judicial Watch, since the Phoenix ATF office was the hub of activity during the years-long run of Operation Fast and Furious.

Weapons released to criminal elements in the program have been connected to the deaths of hundreds of Mexican nationals and one U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry.

'These crime scene photos graphically illustrate the legacy of President Obama and Eric Holder’s deadly Fast and Furious lies,' Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

'Even as the evidence and casualties mount, the Obama administration is still secreting information about its reckless program. These photos show the American people firsthand the bloody consequences when an out-of-control administration will not even admit – or correct – its own mistakes.'