NCJ Number
150277
Date Published
1994
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The House Committee on Government Operations asked the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) to investigate allegations that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) mishandled or ignored important information concerning the suspected gunman in the January 1993 shooting outside the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Abstract
Because of ATF's expertise in firearms, ATF agents joined the investigative task force comprised of the Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and CIA's Langley Security Protective Service. ATF agents were instructed to examine firearm sales records at gun dealerships in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. One ATF agent collected firearm sales records at a gun store in Northern Virginia and handled them in accordance with ATF regulations. The store's manager and gunsmith claimed they told the ATF agent that a composite sketch of the suspected gunman looked like an individual who purchased an AK-47 assault rifle from the store. Although evidence supported statements of the store's manager and gunsmith, the ATF agent denied that the gunsmith provided any identification of the composite. Even though it was alleged that ATF's failure to follow up on important information allowed the suspect to flee the United States, the GAO investigation found that the suspect had left the country a day before the ATF agent visited the gun store. The GAO determined that ATF did not mishandle the information, and Fairfax County police officials commended ATF's work on the investigation. Appendixes contain the suspect's composite sketch and photography and a chronology of events in the CIA shooting.