A ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ man was sentenced to five years in federal prison for possession of illegal weapons that were found after a shooting in which his nephew was killed, officials said.
Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer G. Zipps sentenced Raymundo Lopez Casillas III, 20, to prison for possessing three machine guns, six pipe bombs and a firearms silencer, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.
On June 7, 2019, Casillas discharged an AK-47 rifle in his bedroom in a home on ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥'s northwest side. The bullet traveled through the wall and struck his 17-year-old nephew in the head, killing him.
While searching his room, law enforcement officers found six pipe bombs, one fully automatic machine gun, two machine gun conversion devices and a silencer. All of which are unlawful to possess without the proper registration.
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The conversion devices could turn a handgun into a machine gun, court documents state.
Officers also found 13 additional firearms, a large amount of ammunition and high-capacity magazines in Casillas' bedroom, which were not unlawful to possess, federal prosecutors said.
Casillas had told sheriff's deputies he thought the rifle he was handling was empty when he pulled the trigger, according to court documents.
Casillas said he was in his upstairs bedroom clearing ammunition out of the rifle in the home in the 8000 block of North Country Home Lane, north of Cortaro Farms Road, when the incident happened, according to a search warrant filed in Pima County Superior Court.
The single shot fatally struck Luis Angel Lopez Jr., 17, who was in the adjacent den area, the warrant said. Pima County prosecutors did not file a charge of negligent homicide against Casillas in exchange for him pleading guilty in the federal weapons case, court documents state.
