Multiple Chicago Shooting Weapons Traced to 3 Fort Campbell Army Soldiers Connected to Illegal Gun Pipeline

Federal agents arrested three Fort Campbell soldiers in connection to an illegal gun pipeline to Chicago after guns found at a mass shooting scene in Chicago were traced to Middle Tennessee purchases, the Nashville U.S. Attorney's office announced.

Demarcus Adams, 21; Jarius Brunson, 22; and Brandon Miller, 22, all enlisted members of the U.S. Army stationed in Clarksville face multiple federal charges in the case. Guns traced to the trio have been connected to multiple shootings including a late March attack that left one person dead and multiple other people wounded in Chicago’s Southwest Side.

All three soldiers were arrested by ATF agents and agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, said Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee.

Each solider is charged with transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident; making false statements during the purchase of a firearm; engaging in the business without a firearms license; wire fraud; money laundering; and conspiracy to commit Title 18 offenses, according to a criminal complaint.

Investigation of the firearms began March 26 when Chicago police responded to the mass shooting incident. The shooting took place on the 2500 block of W. 79th Street, court documents show.

Multiple firearms were recovered from the shooting scene and five of the firearms were found to have been recently purchased from Federal Firearms Licensed dealers in Clarksville, court documents show.

Further investigation, the complaint continues, identified Adams, Brunson and Miller as the majority purchasers of these firearms.

A broader investigation into firearms transaction records determined that since September 2019, the three men had purchased 91 firearms from multiple federal firearms dealers in Clarksville; Oak Grove, Kentucky; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and Paducah, Kentucky.

The majority of the firearms, the complaint continues, were purchased over the last five months.

After the firearms were purchased, Miller would provide them to people he was associated with in Chicago, investigators claim in the criminal complaint. On Friday, prosecutors say, a federal search warrant was executed at the Clarksville home of Miller and Adams.

There, 49 empty firearms cases were discovered — many of them matched to firearms recovered by the Chicago Police Department at the scene of recent shootings and homicides, the complaint noted.

All three soldiers were slated to appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Nashville.

The government has asked that at least one, Miller, be detained pending trial, court documents show.

Prosecutors claim Miller led the effort to transport the guns and noted he is currently facing court martial proceedings through the military base related to an alleged sexual assault.

Court documents go onto show agents noted on April 7, Miller and a different Chicago area code phone number had the following text exchange:

 

• From Miller: “We gotta hold this shit together ima still play the back role g I ain’t never turning my back on gang whatever got going on y’all ina door wit me stand on business ima stand on my business to make sure mfs got what they need.” 
• From Chicago phone number: “Sayless." 
• Later on the same day; from Miller: “We gone win this *war* we losing the battle but this a marathon not a race.” 

Miller "faces significant civilian and military justice charges and has very few, if any, connections to the Middle District of Tennessee, the defendant would pose a significant flight risk if he were released," they argued in the motion to detail.

If convicted, under federal law, the men each face up to 20 years in prison.

Thanks to Natalie Neysa Alund.