Mesa ammo dealer linked to Las Vegas shooter charged

Jason Pohl | The Republic | azcentral.com

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw video of Mesa man who sold ammunition to Las Vegas gunman Douglas Haig talks on Jan. 30, 2018, about selling tracer ammunition to Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock. Michael Chow/azcentral.com

A federal grand jury in Las Vegas on Wednesday indicted the Mesa ammo dealer linked to last year's mass shooting at a country music festival, marking the latest procedural step against the man since a case was filed in February.

Douglas Haig was indicted on one count of "engaging in the business of manufacturing ammunition without a license," the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada said.

The indictment is the first significant legal move against the man since an official complaint was filed in February alleging Haig, 55, engaged in a conspiracy to manufacture and sell armor-piercing ammunition without a license.

Until Wednesday's indictment, a case against Haig had been in limbo. He had not been indicted on any counts, and the case remained stuck in preliminary stages consisting essentially of the criminal complaint and several motions to continue, with the conspiracy count, in effect, as a placeholder.

"We're disappointed that the U.S. Attorney didn't bother to wait to hear our response to the discovery we provided," Marc Victor, Haig's attorney, told The Arizona Republic Wednesday evening. "From what we've seen, we don't think any crime has been committed."

RELATED: What we know about the ammo dealer who sold to the Las Vegas shooter

Fifty-eight people were killed in the Oct. 1, 2017, attack on those attending a country-music festival, and hundreds of others were wounded. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before police could arrest him.

The criminal complaint from earlier this year said unfired armor-piercing bullets found inside the Las Vegas hotel room where the attack was launched bore Haig's fingerprints.

Haig operated an internet ammo business as a side job and sold high-powered ammunition at gun shows. He manufactured ammunition in a backyard workshop.

According to the criminal complaint sworn by an FBI agent in Nevada and signed by a federal magistrate judge in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas in February, Paddock tried to buy ammunition from Haig at gun shows in Las Vegas and Phoenix in August and in September, weeks before the Oct. 1 shooting.

Mesa man Douglas Haig charged Arizona Republic reporter Dennis Wagner talks about the charge against Douglas Haig, a Mesa man who sold ammunition to Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock. Thomas Hawthorne/azcentral.com

Haig said Paddock bought at least 40 rounds from him at the Las Vegas gun show on Aug. 27. Paddock approached Haig's booth at the Phoenix show Sept. 9, but Haig said he did not have the amount of ammunition Paddock wanted to buy on hand. So on Sept. 19, Paddock went to Haig's Mesa home and bought 600 rounds of "tracer" ammunition and an undisclosed quantity of another ammunition.

Investigators were first led to Haig when they found his name and address on a shipping label on a box in Paddock's hotel room at the Mandalay Bay hotel after the shooting, and they deduced that Paddock had bought ammo from him.

Haig told the investigators that the ammunition found at the Las Vegas crime scene would not have "tool marks ... consistent with his reloading tools." Haig admitted he reloaded shells but said he didn't sell the reloaded ammunition, according to the criminal complaint.

MORE: Case of Mesa ammo dealer who sold to Las Vegas shooter remains in limbo

But investigators found the tool marks and Haig's fingerprints on two armor-piercing/incendiary rounds from Paddock's cache, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators also reportedly found armor-piercing ammunition in Haig's residence and spoke to other people who bought the ammunition from him.

"I've had people pounding at my door, death threats. One woman screaming through my door that I should be killed and I should die. It's been not a lot of fun, quite frankly," Haig said at a February news conference. "It makes me feel horrible. People need to do their research, and think rather than react viscerally."

Vegas Gunman's Ammo Dealer Facing Charges Federal authorities have charged a man who sold ammunition to Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock with manufacturing armor piercing bullets. The dealer, Douglas Haig, spoke to reporters about the massacre a few hours earlier Friday. (Feb. 2)

Haig, an aerospace engineer who sold ammunition as a hobby for about 25 years, said he noticed nothing suspicious when he sold to Paddock.

In the Sept. 19 transaction, Paddock paid for the order in cash. He returned to his car to get and put on gloves before taking the ammunition, which Haig had loaded into an Amazon.com shipping box, according to the complaint.

The FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department are continuing their investigation, officials said.

Haig is scheduled to appear for an initial appearance Sept. 5 in Las Vegas.

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8515, jpohl@azcentral.com or on Twitter: @pohl_jason.

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