FORT CAMPBELL, KY (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Three Fort Campbell soldiers were charged Tuesday with conspiracy and offenses relating to the illegal purchase and transfer of dozens of firearms to the streets of Chicago.
Demarcus Adams, 21; Jarius Brunson, 22; and Brandon Miller, 22, all enlisted and stationed at Fort Campbell, were arrested Tuesday morning by ATF agents and agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, according to a news release from Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The investigation began on March 26, when Chicago police responded to a mass shooting incident. Multiple people were shot and one person was pronounced dead at the scene. During the resulting investigation, multiple firearms were recovered and five of them had been purchased from Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) dealers in the Clarksville area. Further investigation identified Adams, Brunson and Miller as the purchasers, the release said.
Since September 2019, the trio had purchased 91 firearms from multiple FFLs in Clarksville; Oak Grove, Kentucky; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Fort Campbell; and Paducah, Kentucky. After the firearms were purchased, Miller would provide them to individuals he was associated with in Chicago, the release said.
On April 28, a search warrant was executed at the home of Miller and Adams, where 49 empty firearms cases were recovered, many of them matched to firearms recovered in Chicago at the scene of shootings and homicides, the release said.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives; the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division; and the Chicago Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Josh Kurtzman is prosecuting the case.