New documentation shows Fleet Farm failed to act on employee concerns about gun-buying sprees

A straw gun purchase occurs when a person who can pass a background check buys a firearm for someone who cannot legally buy one or wants to hide their identity.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is pulling back the curtain on hundreds of internal records showing that while corporate leaders at Fleet Farm ignored employee warnings about suspicious gun sales, those exact transactions later fueled a fatal mass shooting at the Truck Park Bar in St. Paul in October, 2021.

“The documents we are releasing today show that Fleet Farm was negligent when it sold guns to straw buyers,” said Attorney General Ellison. “One of Fleet Farm’s own employees warned they may be selling guns to a straw buyer. Fleet Farm ignored this warning, then later used their own sales to straw buyers as examples of what should have raised a red flag."

Ellison was joined by grieving families like the Wileys who lost their daughter Marquisha, 27. Beth Wiley is her mother.

"We're truly thankful that her story is being not but you know being directed toward change," says Wiley.

Ellison says researchers and lawmakers will be watching to see if making these documents public could push other retailers to crack down on what they're calling suspicious gun sales.

Fleet Farm later agreed to pay $1 million and implement "significant" policy changes to prevent the illegal sale of guns to straw buyers as part of a settlement with Ellison's office in February.

Michael Norseng, whose young son found one of the trafficked weapons in their yard, stressed how transparency can help communities heal.

"Anything that moves the needle forward in terms of gun violence prevention or protecting, especially our kids, is a step in the right direction," Norseng adds.

Straw guns were also used in the tragic killing of three Burnsville, Minnesota first responders. A Burnsville woman was indicted for the straw purchase of multiple firearms used by Shannon Gooden, who was not legally allowed to own them after a felony conviction.

Ellison says other companies need to adopt policies that are more strict in an attempt to stop illegal straw buyers.

"To those who were skeptical of this lawsuit when I filed it, and skeptical that we could use civil law to hold corporations accountable for their roles in public-safety crises, I trust these documents will put that skepticism to rest," Ellison explains. "My team and I are creating a whole new body of work in successfully using civil law to improve public safety and protect the well-being of Minnesotans everywhere, and we’re going to keep building on it.”