Father of Washington state teen gunman 'slipped' through system: reports

[September 23, 2015]  (Reuters) - The father of a Washington state high school student who killed four classmates before committing suicide last year was able to "slip" through the system to get the firearm his son used, media reports quoted federal prosecutors as saying on Tuesday.

Raymond Fryberg, 42, is facing six counts of illegal possession of firearms in violation of a 2002 court protection order that barred him from obtaining guns, an indictment shows.

Among the weapons were a rifle, a shotgun and a Beretta Px4 Storm handgun. His son Jaylen Fryberg used the Beretta in the Oct. 24 shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, about an hour's drive north of Seattle.

The popular 15-year-old football player opened fire on a cafeteria gathering of his cousins and three close friends before taking his own life. Four of the students died and one survived.

Raymond Fryberg, who went on trial on Monday, has pleaded not guilty.

U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake said during opening statements on Tuesday Fryberg "slipped under the screen” when he was allowed to purchase weapons despite a Tulalip Tribal Court domestic violence restraining order, the Seattle Times reported.

That non-expiring ruling was issued in 2002 after he was accused of assaulting and threatening his girlfriend.

Defense attorney John Henry Browne said Raymond Fryberg underwent a thorough federal background check when he applied for a concealed weapons permit in 2013 and his record came up clean, the Seattle Times reported.

“Mr. Fryberg believed in good faith he was allowed to own and possess firearms," the attorney said, according to the newspaper.

The shooting last year rocked the small city of Marysville and the adjoining, close-knit community of the Tulalip Indian Reservation, of which the Frybergs are prominent members.

It also renewed national focus on gun control laws and background checks for gun buyers amid a string of deadly shootings on U.S. high school and college campuses.

(Reporting by Victoria Cavaliere; Editing by Paul Tait)

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