Gun traced after attack on Detroit police

1/26/2011

DETROIT -- Federal authorities tracing the ownership chain of a 20-gauge shotgun used in a shootout at a Detroit police precinct have charged a former convict with illegally possessing it.

Authorities are still investigating, however, how the weapon made its way from that man to Lamar Moore, who was holding it when he walked into the police station Sunday and wounded four officers before being fatally shot.

Elijah Gayden, who has a 1995 cocaine conviction in Elkhart County, Ind., was charged Tuesday with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Moore, 38, used that same shotgun last weekend at the police station, said Jarrod Marsh, an agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

According to the court filing, Gayden told agents he bought the weapon for $200 from another man last spring. Mr. Marsh's affidavit does not indicate how Moore obtained the gun.

"We don't know that [Gayden] gave the firearm directly to him. We're still investigating," ATF spokesman Donald Dawkins said Wednesday.

Gayden appeared in federal court on the gun charge Tuesday and was released.

Two of the wounded officers may be released from a hospital this week, doctors said.