Gun Maker Found Not Liable in Shooting

.c The Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The country’s largest firearms maker is not liable for the shooting of two police officers by a felon, a judge ruled.

Former Orange, N.J., police officers Dave Lemongello and Kenneth McGuire are not entitled to damages from Southport, Conn.-based Sturm, Ruger & Co., Inc., Kanawha County Circuit Judge Irene Berger ruled Thursday.

The officers sued the gun maker and a South Charleston pawnshop two years ago, arguing they should pay damages because a Ruger handgun sold at the shop had been used to shoot them in January 2001.

Berger said it would require “a real stretch” to make the gun maker responsible because the gun had originally been sold to an Ohio wholesaler. By the time it got to the pawnshop, it had changed hands four times.

The company was “pleased with the court’s ruling,” said Sturm, Ruger attorney James Vogts.

Will’s Jewelry and Loan Co., the pawnshop where the gun was sold, settled with the officers for $1 million in June.

A clerk at the shop sold the gun and 11 others to taxi driver Tammi Songer even though another man, James Gray, picked out the guns and carried them out the door. Songer later said Gray – a felon who could not legally buy guns – had paid her cash to act as his purchaser.

Gray sold one of the guns to three-time felon Shuntez Everett, who shot the officers. Everett was killed in the gun battle. The officers were disabled and have retired.

Songer and Gray spent time in federal prison for their roles in the gun sale.