Authorities in Texas have identified a person suspected of illegally manufacturing a rifle and selling it to the man who allegedly killed seven people and wounded more than 20 others in West Texas last Saturday, a report said.

Law enforcement authorities believe the man lives in Lubbock, Texas, but his identity was not released, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Investigators believe the suspect sold gunman Seth Ator the rifle in a private sale that allowed him to purchase the weapon without undergoing a background check, according to the report.

Authorities believe the man was illegally buying parts for guns, assembling a single firearm and then reselling it, the Journal reported.

Ator, 36, shot 29 people at random as he drove near Odessa, Texas, on the west side of the state near the border with New Mexico.

Police shot and killed Ator after they cornered him near a movie theater.