The gun that killed two women outside a Freeland home Thursday was purchased in a Lynnwood pawn shop just hours before the early morning shooting.
This fact was one of several turned up this week by a continuing investigation of the crime by the Island County Sheriff’s Office.
County detectives are still trying to find out exactly why the killer, Preston Dean “Hugh” Douglas, went on a rampage in the Vesel Court neighborhood and killed his fiancee, Holly Swartz; her mother, Marjorie Monnett; and then himself.
The gun, a 12-gauge Mossberg shotgun with a pistol grip, was purchased sometime between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. from Diversified Loans and Music on Highway 99, said Island County Sheriff Mike Hawley.
A retired law enforcement officer apparently was in the store at the same time and observed Douglas buy the gun.
Hawley said Monday that his office received an e-mail Friday from the man, who identified himself as a retired deputy sheriff from Brazos County, Texas. The man wrote that he had read news reports about the shooting and thought there was a similarity between Douglas and the man he had seen buying the gun.
Island County detectives interviewed employees at the store and, according to Hawley, found that both the weapon and the transaction were legal. Federal law does not require a waiting period to purchase a long barrel shotgun.
“This type of gun is available in many sporting goods stores,” Hawley said.
He was not able to say how much Douglas paid for the weapon. An Internet search indicated the typical price range for a shotgun of that type is $125 to $375.
The particular gun Douglas used had a dull black finish and, according to Hawley, is not a hunting weapon. A pistol grip shotgun has a standard-length barrel but the stock is rounded downward into a grip.
Russ Lindner, chief of investigations for the sheriff’s office, said the e-mail tip was not the only indication that Douglas’ gun purchase was a recent one.
“At the scene, a string from the store tag was still hanging on thr trigger, like the price tag had been ripped off the tag, but the string was left,” he said.
