The gunman who killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday test fired an AR-15 assault rifle at a Virginia gun store last week but was stopped from buying one because state law there prohibits the sale of such weapons to out-of-state buyers, according to two senior law enforcement officials.
Instead, the gunman, Aaron Alexis of Texas, bought a law-enforcement-style shotgun – an 870 Remington pump – and used it on Monday as he rampaged through the Navy facility, said the officials, who requested anonymity because of the continuing investigation…
The gunman then perched himself above an atrium where he fired down on people who had been eating breakfast, officials said, adding that he used shotgun shells that had roughly a dozen large ball-bearing-like shots in them, increasing the lethal nature of each shot.
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