Authorities Did Not Try to Use ‘Red Flag’ Law for Indianapolis Gunman

The senior county prosecutor in Indianapolis said on Monday that his office never sought to invoke a law that could have prevented Brandon Hole from buying two firearms before he shot and killed eight people last week at a FedEx packaging warehouse.

In a news conference, Ryan Mears, the prosecutor for Marion County, said his office had decided not to use Indiana’s so-called red flag law last year, even though Mr. Hole’s mother’s warnings about her son’s mental instability had prompted the police to seize a shotgun from him.

The tight deadlines and constraints on evidence gathering built into the state’s 16-year-old statute gave prosecutors too little time to make a convincing case to a judge, Mr. Mears said, adding that losing in court could have backfired.

“If we move forward with that proceeding, and we lose, guess what happens: that firearm goes right back to that person,” he said. “We weren’t willing to take that [chance].”

www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/us/indianapolis-shooting-red-flag-law.html