Court records show a 22-year-old man, previously diagnosed with a mental illness, faces federal charges after authorities said he bought two firearms from a North Little Rock gun store.
Jaylynn Daeshawn Green was arrested last month at his residence on South Victory Street in Little Rock, police said.
Green, according to federal court records, was able to buy a firearm from Don's Weaponry on two separate occasions in February. The month before, a court ordered him to be involuntarily admitted for treatment related to his mental illness, court records show. During the purchases, he failed to disclose on federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives forms that he had been committed to a mental institution, court records state.
Court documents listed his diagnosis as "schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type."
Jacob Tipton, vice president of the gun store, says the store did nothing wrong and Green passed two FBI background checks.
"We could have denied [him] if somebody did their job," Tipton said.
He said Green's mental illness must have not been properly reported through the system, but commented that he did not blame the FBI or police.
Tipton said no customer can leave the store with a firearm without an FBI background check, unless he has a basic concealed-carry permit from the state, which means he has already been checked.
Court records show a federal grand jury returned indictments charging Green with two counts of violating federal law that prevents a person adjudicated as a mental defective or who has been committed to a mental institution from possessing a firearm.
Besides the federal charges, Green is the listed offender in an April 11 incident in which several bullets were fired into a North Little Rock apartment occupied by several people. Nobody was wounded by the gunfire.
Police spokesman Sgt. Amy Cooper said last week that Green has not been charged in the incident, but the case is still open.
Officers had responded to the 200 block of West Sixth St. and found that at least two bullets went through an apartment bedroom window and at least four more entered the living room window, according to federal court records. A victim told police she was inside her apartment and heard at least eight gunshots outside. She did not see who opened fire, but said she believed Green was the shooter, the documents said.
According to the document, the victim said Green had been at her apartment looking for one of her children a few hours before the gunfire. During the incident, Green threatened the victim by saying he would come back to "take care of them," according to the federal affidavit.
The federal affidavit also stated that Green's neighbors in Little Rock reported seeing the man in his yard shooting a firearm on "multiple occasions."
In January, a Pulaski County circuit judge signed an order to involuntarily admit Green for treatment at the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute or another appropriate facility.
"There is clear and convincing evidence the Respondent has a mental illness and poses a clear and present danger to himself and/or others," according to the order.
The order said Green would be involuntarily admitted for a period that would not be more than 45 days.
A day before the order was signed, a petition signed by Green's aunt said the 22-year-old man was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and had not been taking his medications. The petition said Green jumped off the Broadway Bridge in December 2016 due to his paranoia and delusions about police chasing him.
"He has been hospitalized [four] times for his mental illness since then, but has no insight into his illness," the court documents stated. "He is still very paranoid. He feels that people are out to get him, and they come by his home watching him."
Weeks after the January court order, Green was able to buy a pistol at Don's Weaponry, according to a federal affidavit.
"[Green] checked the 'no' box regarding the question 'Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?'" the affidavit stated.
The manager of the gun store, according to the document, said Green returned to the business the next day and asked to return the pistol. The man complained that he was unable to properly shoot the firearm, and the manager agreed to the return, "at which time [Green] purchased another firearm," the affidavit says.
Green again checked "no" on an ATF form when asked if he had ever been committed to a mental institution or adjudicated as a mental defective, authorities said.
After checking the Arkansas Crime Information Center/National Crime Information Center system on April 20, an investigator found that Green was "subject to a Federal Mental Health Prohibitor For Firearm Possession," the court document said.
Metro on 05/09/2018