Three Fort Campbell soldiers have been arrested in connection with alleged illegal sales of guns, including ones that were recovered following a mass shooting in Chicago.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Middle Tennessee obtained a criminal complaint against 21-year old Demarcus Adams, 22-year old Jarius Brunson, and 22-year old Brandon Miller, all enlisted members of the U.S. Army and stationed at Fort Campbell.
It charges each suspect with transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident; making false statements during the purchase of a firearm; engaging in the business without a firearms license; wire fraud; money laundering; and conspiracy to commit Title 18 offenses.
A news release says the investigation began on March 26, when Chicago police responded to a mass shooting incident where several people were shot and one died. During the resulting investigation, multiple guns were recovered from the shooting scene and five of the firearms were found to have been recently purchased from Federal Firearms Licensed dealers in the Clarksville area.
Further investigation identified Adams, Brunson and Miller as the majority purchasers of these firearms.
A broader investigation determined that since September 2019, the men had purchased 91 firearms from multiple dealers in Clarksville, Oak Grove, Hopkinsville, Fort Campbell, and Paducah.
The majority of the firearms were purchased during the last five months. The criminal complaint also alleges that after the firearms were purchased, Miller would provide them to individuals he was associated with in Chicago.
On April 28, a federal search warrant was executed at the home of Miller and Adams in Clarksville, where 49 empty firearms cases were recovered. Many of these empty cases were matched to firearms recovered by the Chicago Police Department at the scene of recent shootings and homicides.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division; and the Chicago Police Department.