A “ghost gun” ring printed in 3D arrives in my community and leaves a dead man

It is obvious to say at this point that Americans have many weapons. Concrete Case: This week, a fire chief from a rural area of ​​Alabama He stopped to help a driver who had just hit a deer.. The two men walked along the entrance path of a nearby house. For reasons that are not yet clear, a man left the house with a gun and began shooting. This was a bad idea at many levels, but in practice because Both the Fire Chief and the driver were also armed.. Among the three, all received shots, the fire chief died and the man who lived in the house was accused of murder.

But despite the ease of acquiring legal weapons, there is still a solid black market to traffic with things like “ghost weapons” (without serial numbers) and machine gun converters (They convert a semi -automatic weapon in automatic). According to a New important report Published this month by the Office of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, there was an increase of 1,600 percent in the use of “ghost weapons” of private manufacturing during crimes between 2017 and 2023. Between 2019 and 2023, the seizure of machine gun converters also increased by 784 percent.

Ars Technica has covered these issues for yearssince both “ghost guns” and machine gun converters can be produced using 3D printed parts, whose schemes are now widely available online. But one can know a problem and still surprise themselves when local prosecutors begin to talk about traffic networks in the black market, inept robbery plans, murders and 3D printing operations that are carried out from a local apartment.

History of Philadelphia

I live in the Philadelphia area and this is a real story of Philadelphia; I know all the places it contains well. Many people in this story live in Philadelphia itself, but violence (and 3D printing!) Of which they are accused took place in the suburbs, in places like Jenkintown, the municipality of Lower Merion and Bucks County. If you know Philadelphia, you will know that all these are suburban areas of the West and Northwest and that, in general, they are all comfortable places. In fact, The New York Times published this month a long article entitled “How Sleepy Bucks County became a rival of the Hamptons.” Lower Merion es uno de los suburbios más ricos de Filadelfia, mientras que Jenkintown es un pequeño y encantador suburbio del noroeste que también fue el escenario de la comedia de situación de larga duración. The Goldberg. Local County Prosecutors are more often Breaking shipments of fake products autographs by Jason Kelce. or go after … and later Do not go after“Bill Cosby Comedian.”

But today, Montgomery County Prosecutors announced something different: They had opened a local 3D print market weapons network and said that one of the group -printed weapons of the group was used last month to kill a man during a failed robbery.

It is a fairly strange story. According to the police, things began when Jeremy Fuentes, 26, drove to the north to a Bucks County address. Fuentes worked for a junk transport company at the nearby Willow Grove and had gone to Bucks County to give a job budget. While the owner showed sources the property, sources supposedly noticed “a large safe for weapons, several firearms boxes, pieces of weapons and ammunition” in the house.

Outside work, it was said that Fuentes was a member of a local weapons network of the black market, so when he saw so much weapons team in one place, and when he noticed that the owners were elderly, he saw signs of dollar. Police say that after the estimated visit, Fuentes communicated with Charles Fulforth, 41, from Jenkintown, who was a key member of the weapons.

Fuentes had an idea: Fulforth should steal the house and steal all arms related supplies. Unfortunately, the group was not good in addresses. Sources did not provide complete and correct information, so when Fulforth and an accomplice went to steal the house in December 2024, they went to a Lower Merion house. This house was not at all in Bucks County; In fact, it was 30 minutes to the south, but I had a similar direction to the house that Fuentes had visited.

When Lower Merion invaded on December 8, the two thieves did not find an elderly couple but a 25 -year -old man named Andrew Gaudio and his 61 -year -old mother, Bernadette. Andrew was killed, while Bernadette was shot but survived.

Police arrested Fulforth only three days later, on December 11, and arrested their fellow thief on December 17. But the police did not immediately realize what they had encountered. Only after they recorded the Fulforth apartment in Jenkintown and found a 9 mm -printed gun they realized that this could be more than a simple robbery. How had Fulforth acquired the weapon?

According to a Declaration on the case Published today by the Montgomery County District Prosecutor, the investigation involved “registration orders in multiple locations and searches for mobile phone”, which revealed that Fulforth had its own “firearms production installation”, also known as “A group of 3D printers.” Detectives even found a video of a Taurus style Part of the weapon was printed on the devices, and they came to believe that the weapon used to kill Andrew Gaudio was “one of the many manufactured by Fulforth.”

In addition to manufacturing ghost weapons in its “clandestine and highly sophisticated installation of firearms production,” Fulforth was also accused of manufacturing machine gun converters with 3D printed parts. These pieces would be pre -installed in the weapons that the group trafficked to increase its value. According to the researchers, “from the review of the telephone communications captured among the members of the arms trafficking, the investigation found that when [machine gun conversion] SWITCHES IN THE AR guns were installed, which increased the price of the firearm by at least $ 1,000 “.

Fuentes, who initially had provided the direction that motivated the murder, was arrested this morning. The authorities have also accused five other people of being part of the weapons network.

Then, a tragic and stupid story, but that highlights how popular the 3D printing technology has become. Mass production facilities are not needed or a warehouse with little light; Simply place some printers in a bedroom and you can also become a local weapons traffic.

There is nothing new in all this and, in fact, fewer people received shots than in that strange shooting in Alabama mentioned above. Even so, I realize when a technology on which I have written and read for years in Ars appears in your community and leaves a dead man.