How did Muhammad get the rifle?

The $900 Bushmaster M-4 carbine used in at least 11 of the Washington, D.C.-area sniper attacks may have been stolen from a Tacoma gun shop, federal sources said yesterday.

The owner of Bull's Eye Shooter Supply told investigators he thought he still owned the new .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle when federal agents asked him to look for its sales records Thursday, soon after it was found in the car trunk of sniper suspects John Allen Muhammad, 41, and Lee Boyd Malvo, 17.

Federal agents are investigating whether the rifle was stolen or sold but not documented. They also are trying to trace how it ended up in the hands of the pair suspected of killing 10 people and injuring three others in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Bull's Eye Shooter Supply, which bills itself as "Puget Sound's Largest Gun Shop," has not always been able to account for its guns in the past.

Two years ago, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) could not find sales records for 150 guns at the Bull's Eye. Gun dealers are required to keep records of all purchases and sales.

Bull's Eye owner Brian Borgelt, 37, a former Army sniper instructor, told The News Tribune in Tacoma on Thursday that there was "a pretty good likelihood" Muhammad bought the rifle at his store.

Borgelt could not be reached yesterday to explain the difference between what he told the newspaper and what investigators said he told them.

ATF agent Martha Tebbenkamp would not discuss the bureau's earlier audit of Bull's Eye or the investigation into the disappearance of the rifle.

Bushmaster Firearms of Windham, Maine, sold the rifle to Bull's Eye in June, said company owner Richard Dyke.

The weapon has been positively linked by ballistics to the 20-day sniper spree around the nation's capital.

Gun shops are required to tell the ATF about missing or stolen firearms within 48 hours of discovering a loss, a bureau spokesman said.

Penalties for violations can range from an informal request for the dealer to update records to criminal charges.

The ATF's Tebbenkamp would not say whether any action was taken against Bull's Eye after the last audit. The store, which has a dozen indoor firing ranges, opened about 10 years ago.

The weapon used in the sniper killings is not the .223-caliber Bushmaster rifle that Muhammad sold May 23, 2000, to a small Tacoma firearms store, Welchers Guns, officials have confirmed.

Several national media outlets had erroneously reported Muhammad had purchased the gun then. Store manager John Welcher said he had purchased the .223-caliber rifle from Muhammad for about $500. He had sold it to him the previous December for about $1,000.

Muhammad's sale of the rifle became the basis for a federal criminal complaint that led to an arrest warrant and nationwide search for him earlier this week.

Since March 2000, he had been under a Pierce County Superior Court protective order requiring him to stay away from his former wife and their three children. He was not supposed to have weapons. His possession of the rifle was a federal crime, and a warrant was issued.

Muhammad passed a background check when he purchased the rifle in December 1999 at Welchers Guns, its manager said. Muhammad presented a driver's license and passed a Justice Department background check, Welcher said.

"It was a 3-minute procedure," Welcher said. "There was no delay, no denial."

It was legal for Muhammad to own a firearm at that time.

Three months later, the protective order was issued.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com.

Duff Wilson: 206-464-2288 or dwilson@seattletimes.com.