The “ghost gun” used in a Northern California school shooting in December 2024 was believed to have been purchased from a convicted felon in Arizona months before the shooting.
After executing multiple search warrants, the gun was originally traced to Steven Lyons, 77, of Buckeye. Lyons legally purchased the gun in April 2024 from a widow whose husband previously legally owned it. Then police say Lyons sold it to Jesse Kitagawa Jr., 45, on April 8, 2024, not knowing Kitagawa was a convicted felon.
Kitagawa sold the Glock 19 ghost rifle to the suspected school shooter, 56-year-old Glenn Litton, at a Chandler motel two days later for $300, Butte County Sheriff’s Office detectives said.
The Feather River Adventist School in Oroville, California in Butte County is where the shooting took place. The alleged shooter seriously injured two preschool boys, ages five and six, and died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Dec. 4, 2024, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office.
Kitagawa was taken into custody by Phoenix police in early January 2025. According to court documents, he told police during a Jan. 9 interview that he recognized the gun, sold it to Litton in April 2024 and acknowledged he was a felon. and it is forbidden to own a weapon.
He faces one count of possession of a weapon by a prohibited person, a class 4 misdemeanor. His criminal record dates back to 2001 and he faces multiple charges related to marijuana, credit card theft and driving under the influence, according to court records.
A ghost weapon has no serial number and can be constructed from parts from different weapons, making it difficult to trace. A homemade, 3D-printed gun, classified as a ghost gun, was allegedly used to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4, 2024, in New York just hours before the Feather River school shooting.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Police: Arizona man charged with selling guns to suspected school shooter