The parents of a woman killed in the Colorado theater shootings filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing four online retailers of improperly selling ammunition, tear gas, a high-capacity magazine and body armor used in the attack. The lawsuit alleges it was illegal and negligent to sell the gear to James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and injuring 70 in the July 20, 2012, attack. It says the companies had no safeguards to keep dangerous people from buying their goods.
"It was highly foreseeable to (the) defendants that their potential customers included persons with criminal intent, including persons such as James Holmes," the lawsuit says.
The suit was filed by Sandy and Lonnie Phillips of San Antonio, whose daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was among the dead. Ghawi, 24, was an aspiring sports journalist who had moved from Texas a year earlier. Less than two months before her death, she had survived a shooting at a Toronto mall that left two people dead and several wounded.
Named as defendants in the case are Lucky Gunner of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bullet Proof Body Armor of Tempe, Arizona, BTP Arms of New Oxford, Pennsylvania, and the Sportsman's Guide of South St. Paul, Minnesota. The lawsuit says Holmes bought at least 4,300 rounds of ammunition from Lucky Gunner's website, bulkammo.com, and 700 rounds of ammunition and a 100-round magazine from the Sportsman's Guide website. It says Holmes bought two tear gas grenades from BTP Arms and four pieces of body armor from bulletproofbodyarmorhq.com.
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