Fed charges likely against gun provider in cop shooting

Tim Evans | The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS — The provider of a gun used to kill an Indianapolis police officer could face federal charges and up to 10 years in prison, according to a U.S. attorney.

Steven Byrdo, 24, killed the Indianapolis Police Officer Ron Bradway, 41, on Friday during an exchange of gunshots after the officer forced his way into an apartment when he heard a woman scream for help. Byrdo also died.

Lawyers in U.S. Attorney Joseph Hogsett's office recently prosecuted three other men who provided guns to convicted felons who later used them to wound or kill police officers.

"I will tell you without equivocation that our philosophy toward this type of crime has not changed," Hogsett said.

Hogsett said he is not aware whether investigators know how Byrdo obtained the gun used in the shooting. Federal law prohibits felons from buying or possessing guns. It also prohibits the transfer of a firearm to a felon.

Indianapolis Public Safety Director Troy Riggs said federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were quick to arrive on the scene of Friday's shooting and assist with that part of the investigation.

In July, Riggs said pinpointing the origin of guns used in crimes was a priority for local police — a goal he emphasized again Sunday after Bradway's death.

"Obviously, we're getting more assistance in this case involving an officer," Riggs said. "But it's something that both Chief (Rick) Hite and I are committed to."

Kendale Adams, a spokesman with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, said tracking the gun will take time.

The most recent action in one of the federal gun cases came last month when Eric "Boo" Jenkins was sentenced to 57 months in prison. He provided felon Thomas X. Hardy with the gun that Hardy used in January 2011 to fatally shoot Officer David Moore.

Moore had been the most recent officer killed in the line of duty until Bradway was fatally wounded early Friday.

Hogsett's staff also has prosecuted:

• Scott Griffy of Terre Haute, Ind., who provided the gun Shaun Seeley used to kill a Terre Haute police officer, Brent Long, in July 2011.

• Tarus Blackburn Jr., who provided the gun that Demetrious Martin, 23, used in the December 2011 Indianapolis Officer Dwayne Runnels. Runnels did not die.

Hogsett's staff won convictions in all three cases. Like Jenkins, Griffy was sentenced to 57 months in prison. Both were convicted felons, which should have precluded them from having a gun in the first place.

Blackburn, who did not have a prior felony record, was sentenced to one year in prison and two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to the "straw purchase" of the gun Martin used to shoot Runnels. Martin was killed in the exchange of gunfire with Runnels.

Hogsett said Blackburn knew that Martin was a felon and couldn't legally purchase a gun.

"Though you didn't pull the trigger, your actions put the gun in the hands of the person who committed this dastardly act," U.S. District Judge William T. Lawrence told Jenkins before sentencing him last month.

All three cases had common denominator, Hogsett said: The person who provided the gun later used to shoot a police officer "had reason to know that it was extraordinarily likely that the gun would be used in a crime of violence."

The federal cases highlight two of the most common ways criminals, who legally cannot obtain a gun, skirt the law: sales or trades on the street and "straw" purchases. In the latter, a person who can legally possess a gun purchases one and resells it to someone unable to make a purchase.

Hardy traded drugs to Jenkins to get the gun he used to shoot Moore, Hogsett said. Blackburn and Martin went to a gun store, he said, where Blackburn bought a gun. After the purchase, Blackburn resold the gun to Martin.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barry Glickman, who headed the prosecution of Jenkins, said at the sentencing that Jenkins gave Hardy the gun though he knew Hardy was looking for revenge against a man who ripped him off in a food stamp sale.

"All Mr. Hardy talked about in those days before was getting Butchie and putting a cap in him," Glickman told the judge. "If Mr. Jenkins does not put that gun in Mr. Hardy's hands, Mr. Moore is with us today."

Jo Moore, David Moore's mother, said after the sentencing that she hoped the sentence would be a deterrent to others.

"I pray it does make a difference," she said. "I hope it sends the message that if you make a bad decision and give a gun to a felon, you will be prosecuted."

Hogsett's staff did not stop at Griffy in the killing of Long. It also prosecuted Brad "Pappy" Keller, who provided Griffy the gun. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release.

Contributing:Vic Ryckaert and Jill Disis, The Indianapolis Star.