Washington school shooter's father charged with illegal gun possession

By Daniel Wallis (Reuters) - The father of a teenager who fatally shot four classmates then killed himself at a Washington state high school last year was arrested on Tuesday and charged with illegally purchasing the handgun used in the rampage, federal prosecutors said. Jaylen Fryberg, a 15-year-old freshman, opened fire inside a cafeteria at the Marysville-Pilchuck High School in October, killing four students and wounding a fifth before turning the weapon on himself. Prosecutors say his father, Raymond Lee Fryberg, 42, bought the Beretta PX4 Storm handgun in January 2013, and that he lied on forms at the time stating that he was not the subject of a court order prohibiting him from owning firearms. Prosecutors said a permanent protection order was imposed on the elder Fryberg in 2002 after his then-girlfriend complained to the Tulalip Tribal Court that he had threatened and physically assaulted her. Prosecutors said the Beretta was the first of five firearms that Fryberg bought over several months. They say he knew that he was subject to the court order, but that each time he nonetheless filled out forms for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives declaring that he was not the subject of any such prohibition. "Guns in the hands of people who have demonstrated they will use violence is a dangerous mix that is prohibited by law," acting U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said in a statement. Federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies are committed to getting firearms "out of the hands of those who pose the greatest risk to our communities," she added. The Oct. 25 shooting rocked Marysville, about an hour's drive north of Seattle, and the close-knit community of the adjoining Tulalip Indian Reservation. It prompted renewed debate about gun control and school safety, and it focused attention on how to spot warning signs of possible violence after it was revealed that Fryberg made troubling postings on social media and then arranged to meet his victims via text message ahead of the rampage. (Reporting by Daniel Wallis in Denver; Editing by Eric Beech)