Last content update and data verfication was on Friday, April 4, 2025, at 03:22:18 (America/New York — EST — UTC -5) by MEB MediaX Webmaster or authorized designee.
Details
- Mass Shooting
- Midland–Odessa Mass Shooting
- Municipality
- Midland–Odessa
- State
- Texas – TX
- Zip Code
- (NA)
- Region
- South
- Division
- West South Central
- Incident Date
- August 31, 2019
- Venue Type
- Other
- Killed
- 7
- Injured
- 25
Ranking Data
- Preventable Factors/Rankings
- Blatant Rankings - Points Doubled
- 0
- Preventable Rankings Score
- 6
- Preventable Status
- Somewhat Unpreventable
Preventable Factors
- Preventable Factor Details
Last content update and data verfication was on Friday, April 4, 2025, at 03:22:18 (America/New York — EST — UTC -5) by MEB MediaX Webmaster or authorized designee.
Takeaway(s):
—A loophole in our laws allowed the perpetrator—who was federally barred from purchasing guns—to acquire a AR-15 (semi-automatic) rifle which was used during the incident.
Incident Preventable Factor(s):
—Gun Laws Inadequate – Inadequate Gun Law(s) Contributed to Perpetrator(s) Execution of the Incident and Unnecessarily Accessible Perpetrator(s) Weapon(s) – Weapon(s) Was Unnecessarily Accessible to the Perpetrator
The perpetrator attempted to purchase a firearm and the system (a national criminal background check) prevailed, flagging him as ineligible because of a prior local court determination that he was mentally unfit. It didn’t matter. He bought the gun using the so called private gun sale loophole, that doesn’t require a federal background check of the buyer.
“Investigation showed that the rifle used in the shooting was purchased on October 8, 2016 from Marcus Anthony Braziel, 45, of Lubbock, Texas. Braziel plead guilty in October 2020 to one count of dealing firearms without a license and one count of subscribing to a false tax return related to his firearm dealing. He was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. In a four-year span, Mr. Braziel inadvertently sold firearms to four prohibited persons: a convicted felon, a man under felony indictment, an immigrant in the U.S. illegally, and Mr. Ator, a man who the courts previously deemed unfit to possess a firearm.” 1
Editor’s Note:
According to all accounts the perpetrator lived a very unorthodox lifestyle (at least by today’s standards) but noting revealed during extensive research raises any red flags, orange maybe, but not red.
It should be noted that this incident and the Walmart Supercenter, El Paso, Texas, Mass Shooting on August 3, 2019, prompted the Texas Safety Action Report.
Source(s):
1. None. Last Edited August 20, 2021. “Midland–Odessa Shooting”. Wikipedia. Retereived September 9, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland%E2%80%93Odessa_shooting.
(Corroboration) Steele, Tom. October 7, 2020. “Man Who Illegally Sold Rifle to Midland-Odessa Rampage Gunman Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges”. The Dallas Morning News. Retereived September 9, 2021, from https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/2020/10/07/man-who-illegally-sold-rifle-to-midland-odessa-rampage-gunman-pleads-guilty-to-federal-charges/?outputType=amp.
Fluidity
- Criminal Case Pending?
- No
- Civil Litigation Pending?
- No
- Trending
- ⯀
Administrative Information
- Credible Source Inquires?
- 2
- Are Credible Source Inquires Inline Endnotes?
- Yes
- Assessment Status?
- Pending
- Editorial Board Approval?
- Pending
Record Information
- Last Updated
- Lexar
- Record ID
- 39
- Private ID
- 5USP5DG
- Date Recorded
- 2021-09-09 20:07:01
- Date Updated
- 2023-10-22 01:44:23
- Last Accessed
- Type Designation