Father of Washington high school shooter found guilty of gun charges

The father of a Washington teenager who used his handgun to kill four friends and himself last year was found guilty Tuesday of illegally owning firearms. He will be sentenced in January, and faces up to 10 years in prison.

A federal jury convicted Raymond Fryberg of six counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, The Associated Press reports. Prosecutors say in 2002, a former girlfriend filed a domestic violence protection order, which prohibited Fryberg from owning firearms. Fryberg claimed that he did not know about the protection order, and thus did not know that he was not allowed to have guns; his lawyer, John Henry Browne, told jurors that his client passed at least 12 background checks, and was never notified by law enforcement about the ban. Prosecutors say Fryberg was served with the notice, but chose to ignore it, and because the notice was granted by a Tulalip Tribal Court judge, it was never entered into state or federal databases, allowing Fryberg to pass the background check and purchase guns.

Fryberg's son, Jaylen Fryberg, killed three 14-year-old girls and his 15-year-old male cousin in the Marysville Pilchuck High School cafeteria on Oct. 24, 2014, before turning the gun on himself. Although federal agents discovered Fryberg's guns after the school shooting, it was not discussed during the trial because Fryberg was not facing charges related to the incident, AP reports.

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