Walmart Gunman Bought Pistol Hours Before Killing and Left a ‘Death Note’ in His Car, Police Say
A Walmart employee told the FBI that the man he knew as “John” had purchased a weapon hours before he killed two people and shot himself.
Robert Lewis Dear, who was shot to death in a Tennessee Walmart on Aug. 3, was an illegal gun purchaser before the shooting, the Department of Justice said.
Dear purchased the handgun in a Walmart in Jackson, Tennessee, last Monday, just hours before he killed two and seriously wounded five of his family members. The next day, he took his own life by shooting himself in the head, sending a note to his girlfriend saying he was leaving instructions.
According to the criminal complaint, Dear’s girlfriend told police that she told Dear he was not permitted to carry a gun into the store because he was not legally allowed to have one in his home in Illinois.
The two went to Walmart earlier that day and she purchased the gun and had it loaded with hollow-points.
Dear was a self-employed firearms dealer, according to the complaint.
Dear was shot to death in the Walmart when he arrived at the store with his family on Aug. 3 and his sister-in-law. He was identified by relatives as “John” after the family knew his wife was pregnant with their youngest son.
Dear was a gun dealer who had sold as many as 300 guns each year in Illinois, according to the U.S.
Congress passed legislation in 2004 that requires a person to be licensed in order to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer or manufacturer, even if that person is legally allowed to possess one.
He purchased the gun on Monday at about 1 a.m. The gun was in the glove compartment of his car in the parking garage of The Marketplace Mall, according to the complaint, at an address where police found
