Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence announced the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of Lynsay Fox — the wife of slain Plymouth police Officer Brad Fox — against In Site Firearms and Law Enforcement Supplies Sept. 8 in Philadelphia.
The lawsuit claims In Site Firearms and Law Enforcement Supplies, located in Jeffersonville, should have seen the signs that Michael Henry was lying on his background checks and that any gun he bought was not going to be for his own use. Henry purchased a 9mm Beretta Semi-Automatic Pistol and later sold it to Andrew Thomas, who shot and killed Fox in 2012.
"The Complaint seeks compensatory damages (in excess of $50,000 as required by Pennsylvania's pleading rules) for all of the harms resulting from Brad Fox's death, including the loss of the love, support and companionship of an extraordinary husband and father. The complaint also seeks punitive damages for defendants' reckless, willful, deliberate and intentional misconduct, resulting in Brad Fox's murder. These losses are great and we look forward to proving them fully at trial," said Hope Freiwald, an attorney at Dechart LLP who is on the legal team representing Lynsay Fox.
In her statement to the press, Lynsay Fox said she is bringing the suit forward so she can prevent something similar from happening to another family.
"I wish there was no need for this press conference, I wish there was no need for me to have filed this lawsuit," Lynsay Fox said Sept. 8 at a press conference in Dechart LLP's office in Philadelphia. "I wish the man who murdered my husband never had access to a gun. And I wish the gun store against whom I have brought my lawsuit never sold to a straw purchaser the gun used to kill my husband, but that gun store did sell that gun and that sale led to my husband's murder."
Attorneys at The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Dechart LLP, who are representing Lynsay Fox pro bono, said In Site Firearms and Law Enforcement Supply — which is owned by Luke Kelly, a former West Norriton police officer — should have known that Henry was a straw purchaser.
As of the afternoon of Sept. 8, Kelly said he has not been served with the lawsuit and has not consulted with his attorney and therefore could not comment on the suit.
"He was only able to get a gun because a gun dealer made it far too easy for criminals to get guns," said Jonathon Lowy, the director of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence's legal action project. "The complaint we filed today on behalf of Lynsay alleges that there were obvious indicators that this was a straw purchase and that the gun sold to Henry was headed to criminal hands."
The suit alleges that even though Henry was able to pass a background check, In Site Firearms and Law Enforcement Supplies should have recognized red flags that he was a straw purchaser. The red flags that Lynsay Fox's attorneys say the store should have recognized the types of guns Henry was purchasing, the number of guns he was purchasing, that he was identified as the buyer of more than one gun on the same day, that he purchased two of the same kind of gun within two weeks of each other and that he paid for each of the guns in cash.
The suit states that between April and July of 2012, Henry bought nine different guns for Brad Fox's killer. The law suit states six of those weapons were bought from In Site Firearms and Law Enforcement Supplies.
"In Site sold Henry six guns in a little over 14 weeks, including two guns which In Site sold to Henry on the day he bought the murder weapon," Lowy said. "All of the sales were in cash."
Lowy said the lawsuit is not a way to try to stop gun owners from purchasing firearms or to shutdown legal gun dealers.
"We are not anti-gun and we are not anti-second amendment; we are pro responsibility, accountability and we are anti-gun violence," Lowy said. "Most gun dealers, like most gun owners, are responsible people who care about how guns are used. They use care in their business practices to prevent dangerous people from getting guns."
Brad Fox started working with the Plymouth Township Police Department in 2007. On Sept. 13, 2012, he was gunned down by Thomas, who had fled the scene of a car crash. After shooting Brad Fox, Thomas turned the gun on himself. Henry, who sold Thomas the 9mm Beretta Semi-Automatic Handgun used in the killing, was arrested and sentenced to 20 to 66 years in prison. Henry has since appealed the court's sentence.
The suit is part of Brady's national "Bad Apple" gun dealer campaign that launched Sept. 6 with a protest in Chicago at Chuck's Gun Shop. The campaign aims to reform the business practices of gun dealers that irresponsibly sell guns.