The suspect in a mass shooting that killed seven people in Odessa, Texas, over the weekend reportedly bought the gun in a private sale that did not require a background check in the state.
"Law enforcement sources tell me the shooter in the #OdessaShooting purchased that AR-style rifle in a PRIVATE SALE, evading a federal background check," ABC News chief national correspondent Matt Guttman posted Tuesday on Twitter.
Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, said earlier the suspect, Seth Ator, 36, had failed a background check for a previous gun purchase. He said Ator also did not undergo one for the gun used in the shooting outside an Odessa movie theater.
Authorities had said that Ator had been flagged as a "prohibited person" who was legally barred from owning or buying a firearm.
Texas is among several states that bar gun owners from selling firearms to buyers they know have been flagged, but they do not have to conduct background checks or ask the buyer about such status, ABC News reports.
According to news dispatches, Ator was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have barred him from buying a gun.
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