Convicted felon lies to pass background check -- then uses guns he bought to shoot his landlord
A convicted felon with a long history of violent crime recently was able to pass a background check by lying on his application -- and then he used the guns he bought to shoot his landlord just hours later.
Local news station KPLR 11 reports that convicted felon Rodney Patterson was able to purchase two 9-millimeter pistols at a department store in Muncie, Indiana despite his violent criminal past, which includes convictions for robbery and theft.
Investigators say that he was able to pass his background check by simply lying about having never been convicted of a felony on his application form -- although it's not clear how he was still able to pass through the FBI's background check system by listing a phony Social Security number.
"The document sent from the FBI back to Rural King showed a check in the box marked 'proceed,'" KPLR 11 reports. "In Indiana, when someone fills out a background check form, it’s sent straight from the gun retailer to the FBI. The FBI uses a system called NICS to run the background check. NICS searches a national and statewide database. Indiana’s database is called IDAC."
Six hours after buying his guns, Patterson shot landlord Tony Ong in the chest when he asked Patterson about paying his rent. Ong was treated and survived the shooting, despite the fact that the bullet only missed his heart by roughly an inch.
Last month, Patterson was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the attempted murder of Ong.
Watch KPLR 11's video on the story below.