A 19-year-old man has been charged with robbing an undercover ATF agent at gunpoint in a grocery store parking lot in Chicago.
Randy Durr was charged with robbery in federal court after authorities say he pointed a Glock handgun at the agent and grabbed $5,000 on Nov. 16, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Durr is accused of selling two “ghost guns” to an undercover agent on Nov. 7 and Nov. 9.
A week later, Durr is accused of meeting the agent again, only to rob him and threaten to kill him.
Durr grabbed the $5,000 and sped off in a black Chevrolet Impala, according to the federal complaint.
Authorities arrested him at a woman’s South Side apartment and recovered the Glock pistol and most of the stolen money.
Durr’s family said the teenager was an “A and B student” and knows “the difference between right and wrong.”
They’re asking a judge to release him from jail until the trial.
A U.S. Navy sailor faces sentencing next March 31 after being convicted last week by a federal jury in Norfolk, Va., of possessing and selling unregistered machine guns in what turned out to be an undercover ATF operation.
Patrick Tate Adamiak
Patrick Tate Adamiak, 28, was convicted Friday.
Authorities charged that between October 2021 and April 2022, Adamiak obtained illegal machine guns and was selling them online.
ATF purchased eight machine guns from him through a confidential source. They then executed a search warrant at Adamiak’s residence and recovered 25 additional unregistered machine guns, plus two grenade launchers and two antitank missile launchers.
Adamiak is a Master at Arms in the U.S. Navy, the Justice Department said in a press release.
A Republican Florida state house candidate was banned from Twitter after suggesting he wanted to legalize shooting federal agents.
“Under my plan, all Floridians will be able to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF, and all other federal troops on sight,” Luis Miguel tweeted. “Let freedom ring.”
Miguel defended his statement, telling Florida Politics that violence is justified because the IRS has been “weaponized by dissident forces.” He didn’t try to justify shooting other federal agents.
Miguel also made the statement on Instagram and Facebook.
In the Aug. 23 primary election, Miguel will incumbent Rep. Bobby Payne. A predominately GOP district, the winner of the primary is expected to win the general election.
Threats of violence against the FBI have increased after agents searched the home of former President Trump earlier this month.
New ATF Director Steven Dettelbach said collaboration with other law enforcement agencies is key to reducing gun violence.
In an interview Thursday with GM3, Dettelbach said he was in New York to meet with other agencies.
“The days of ‘this is turf, that’s your turf’ are over in law enforcement. We work together.”
He added, “Back when I started this business as a prosecutor, 30 years ago, there were eight different agencies doing the same thing in their own little task forces, in their own little units. We cannot do that anymore. We have to share intelligence and share bodies in real-time ways.”
Dettelbach also said that it’s important to prevent people convicted of crimes from committing again.
“The No. 1 predictor in many cases of whether you’re going to do something violent and be a criminal is wether you have done it before,” he said. “We need to do a better job of making sure people aren’t recidivists.”
Dettelbach was sworn in on July 19, about a week after the U.S. Senate confirmed his appointment. As the agency’s first permanent leader since 2015, he said he owes it to his agents to defend them.
“I feel a lot of obligation,” he said. “To do it is to stand up and fight for those (ATF) folks.”
ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, left, with Attorney General Merrick Garland
By Steve Neavling
Steven Dettelbach was sworn in Tuesday as the new ATF director, becoming the first Senate-approved leader of the agency in seven years.
“Thank you, Attorney General Garland, and I also want to say thanks to President Biden for your confidence in me, for fighting for the American people every day and for fighting to provide ATF with a permanent director,” Dettelbach said at the investiture ceremony at the Justice Department.
Dettelbach said the job is his “single greatest honor of my professional life,” but it’s also the “greatest professional challenge of my life.”
At a time of mass shootings and other gun violence, Dettelbach said the ATF has to be willing to take new approaches.
“We have to be open to new ideas,” he said. “We have to be open to new partnerships. We have to be open to a new and urgent sense of unity.”
Dettelbach acknowledged the job will be difficult.
“Make no mistake, the agency and its mission are challenged as never before. We all know about it,” he said. “Rising crime, rising firearm violence, rising mass shooting incidents and a rising tide of extremist violence that threatens people and safety in this nation.
“And it’s going to take all of us in this nation, in law enforcement, working together to address those threats.”
He told ATF employees that “you have my heart, my soul, you have everything that I can give to try to join you in this effort.”
Before introducing Dettelbach on Tuesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said he had faith in the new director.
“I know that you will lead this agency, particularly its courageous and dedicated individuals, with integrity and skill,” Garland said.
A county Republican Party in Kentucky removed a Facebook post that called new ATF Director Steven Dettelbach a “Jewish anti-gun activist.”
The post by the Bracken County Republican Party baselessly claimed Dettelbach’s confirmation demonstrated the “Jewish junta” is growing in strength,” The Louisville Courier-Journal reports.
The U.S. Senate last week narrowly approved Dettelbach to serve as the director, making him the agency’s first permanent leader since 2015.
The county posted the conspiracy theory on Friday and quickly drew criticism.
“A Jewish anti-gun activist, Steve Dettelbach, has just been made director of the ATF,” read the Facebook post. “The Jewish junta is getting stronger and more aggressive.”
The county party chairwoman, Karin Kikendol, later criticized the post.
“Earlier today, I was made aware of an inappropriate post on the Bracken County GOP Facebook page,” Kirkendol wrote on Facebook. “That post does not represent the values of the Bracken County Republican Party. It was incredibly insensitive. We will investigate how this occurred and we commit to tighter oversight of our social media going forward.”
Anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories have been growing on the far right since Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.
The U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly approved Steven Dettelbach to be the director of the ATF, making him the agency’s first permeant leader since 2015.
Dettelbach, a former U.S. attorney from Ohio, was confirmed 48-46.
Republicans Susan Collins of Maine and Rob Portman Ohio joined every Democrat in voting for Dettelbach.
Dettelbach, 57, has advocated for reinstating the assault weapons ban and universal background checks on firearms purchases.
After running an unsuccessful campaign to serve as attorney general in Ohio in 2018, he worked in the private sector for BakerHostetler.
Dettelbach is President Biden’s second choice to lead the ATF. Biden’s first pick, David Chipman, couldn’t get enough votes in the Senate for confirmation last year.
Steve Dettelbach testifies before a Senate committee. Photo: U.S. Senate
By Steve Neavling
President Biden’s pick to lead the ATF, Steve Dettelbach, pledged to leave politics out of the job during a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, just two days after a mass shooting at an elementary school shooting in Texas.
“Politics can play no role in law enforcement. None at all,” he said, according to CNN.
“I worked under Republican administrations, and I worked under Democratic administrations as a federal prosecutor and I have lived that credo and I vow to continue to do it because people need to have confidence that people in law enforcement’s only agenda is to enforce the law – and if you’re at the ATF to catch the bad guys and protect the public,” he added.
In his opening remarks, Dettelbach addressed the rise in violent crime.
“We face many threats to public safety, both new and old,” Dettelbach said in opening remarks. “Violent crime is increasing, firearms violence and mass shootings are increasing, hate crimes and religious violence are increasing, as is violent extremism. If confirmed, I promise to do everything I can to enforce the law, to respect the Constitution of the United States and to partner with law enforcement to protect the safety and the rights of innocent and law-abiding Americans.”
Dettelbach called the school shooting “unimaginable.”
The ATF has been without a permanent leader since ATF Director B. Todd Jones led the agency from 2011 to 2015.
After the hearing, the White House said in a statement that it’s critical that the Senate approve Dettelbach to head the ATF.
“After being vacant for seven years, it’s never been more important to have a tough, experienced, leader like Steve Dettelbach at the helm of ATF to support the agents risking their lives on the front lines every day to protectthe American people. And as we saw with the tragic shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo – where ATF agents have played a key role in the investigations – and with daily gun violence plaguing too many of our communities, now is the time to provide ATF the leadership it needs to redouble its work to enforce our gun laws and make our communities safer.”
Dettelbach was confirmed by the Senate to serve as attorney for the U.S. District Court in Northern Ohio, a position he held from 2009 to 2016. He launched an unsuccessful campaign to serve as attorney general in Ohio in 2018. Since then, he has worked in the private sector for BakerHostetler.
