LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – We’re learning more about a Malvern man who allegedly trafficked hundreds of guns to the streets of Chicago.



27 year old Klint Kelley was arrested Sunday outside Chicago during a multi-agency bust. Newly obtained documents show one of Kelley’s childhood friends from Illinois served as a confidential informant for ATF agents. The informant, a felon, told investigators Kelley claimed to have been running guns from Arkansas to the Chicago area for years.



Chicago Police said in a press conference Tuesday they believed Kelley was singlehandedly responsible for providing hundreds of illegal weapons that often wound up in the hands of gang members.



In March 2017, the informant supposedly reached out to Kelley over interest in buying guns, opening the undercover operation that ended with Kelley’s eventual arrest. In their communications, the informant alluded to intending to resell the weapons.



Between March and September, court documents show Kelley drove three times from Arkansas to Chicago with a car load of guns to sell. 21 guns were sold to the informant alongside an undercover agent, mostly handguns and semi-automatic weapons, totaling nearly $15,000.



Those documents also show that Kelley brought his girlfriend from Arkansas along for the two of the gunrunning trips. Her name is never mentioned and officials have not indicated whether she could face charges as well.



Back in Malvern, the news of Kelley’s arrest doesn’t seem to have made its way around town. Noah Wiley, a lifelong Malvern resident, says he hadn’t heard about the case but was genuinely shocked to hear someone in his small hometown would be accused of carrying out such a scheme.



“It’s really appalling, to be honest,” Wiley said. “To hear something like that came from our town, because weapons are a big issue.”



Kelley is charged with selling firearms to a known felon and multiple counts of dealing firearms across state lines without a license. He is currently in the custody of US Marshals and due back in federal court in Chicago Thursday.