Updated: Cabela’s sued over ‘straw purchase’ of gun used in fatal driveway shooting

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The Brady Center for Gun Violence announced that the family of 19-year-old mother Keshall “KeKe” Anderson filed suit against sporting goods giant Cabela’s.

Anderson was shot and killed in September 2016 in a random drive-by shooting in Wilmington near her home.

The gun had been purchased from Cabela’s in Christiana in a straw purchase and, according to federal court records was  “almost immediately” traded to the shooters a few weeks before the murder, the Brady Center stated.

A straw purchase, which is illegal under federal law, involves  buying a gun by a person prohibited from such actions or a person who does not want his name associated with the purchase and “flips” the gun to a buyer. 

Cabela’s is now part of the Bass Pro Shops chain. The company did not respond to a request for comment. 

Click here  for a copy of the lawsuit

The complaint alleges that Cabela ’s sale of a firearm caused  Anderson’s death. Federally licensed firearm dealers such as Cabela’s are well aware that straw purchases are one of the main ways that guns end up in the hands of felons and dangerous individuals, and that a straw purchase is a violation of state and federal law, the suit claims.

The suit further asserts that the purchasers of the gun showed clear signs of a straw purchase, that Cabela’s “knew or should have known that a straw purchase was underway,” and that the store did not stop the purchase, notify law enforcement, or “comply with its legal obligations.”

According to the suit, a woman associated with the person prohibited bought the gun and was acting in a strange manner at the time of the sale. The suit goes on to claim that Cabela’s has a record of allowing straw purchases in Delaware and elsewhere. 

The law firm of Hudson & Castle in Wilmington and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed the suit in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware  on behalf of  Anderson’s  parents and son.

Jonathan Lowy, vice president of Litigation at the Brady Center and co-counsel for the plaintiffs, stated, “KeKe Anderson should be alive today, with her mom and young son. KeKe’s family wants to prevent other families from suffering as they have suffered, and to make sure that gun dealers live up to their obligations to act reasonably and not sell guns to straw purchasers or other dangerous people. KeKe’s family deserves justice.”

Ben Castle, partner at Hudson & Castle and co-counsel for the plaintiffs, stated, “Far too many young men and women are falling victim to gun violence in Wilmington, and it was an absolute tragedy that KeKe Anderson is among them. To look only to those who pulled the trigger is to miss the point. This is a much more deeply rooted issue in our community, and we have to take steps to be sure from the start that guns are not landing in the hands of dangerous people any longer.”

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence is dedicated to reducing gun injuries and deaths in America by stemming all of the causes of gun violence.

The  Brady Center works in the courts to reform dangerous and reckless gun industry practices that give criminals and dangerous individuals access to guns. Brady’s legal team has won rulings in courts across the country.

Hudson & Castle, LLC is a local Delaware law firm focused on personal injury and wrongful death. Founding attorneys Bruce Hudson and Ben Castle have more than eight decades of experience.

The center was founded by the family of the late James Brady, the former press secretary for President Ronald Reagan. Brady, who was permanently disabled,  resided in Delaware after a shooting that nearly took the lives of the president and Brady.