GEORGETOWN, Del. - Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings is cracking down on illegal gun purchases in Delaware, where most of guns were sold in Sussex County.
Five people are accused of illegally buying more than 60 firearms for others, also known as straw purchases. Jennings made that announcement today in the Brick Hotel in Georgetown. The people who are accused face a total of 91 felony charges.
Jennings says two of those guns have already taken lives. One was used in a Dover homicide and the other in a New Castle County suicide. She says other guns have been recovered in search warrants, with some being found all the way in New York. A majority have not been accounted for.
The five people who are being prosecuted are Keyon Eley, Karen Morris, Shane Willey, Malik Jarvis, and Paige Morris. So far, only Eley is in custody and the others are out on unsecured bond.
"Straw purchases look at first blush on the surface, like a fairly minor act, that in and of itself does not result in death or violence. But these stories tell the true story, when someone purchases a gun knowing they are giving it to an individual prohibited from possessing that gun, they're giving an instrument of death to another person, and they will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," said Jennings.
Jennings said they must get to the straw purchases before they get into the hands of people "hellbent on killing other human beings."
Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies were all a part of this investigation.
