ATF agents conducting sting let man leave store with gun

Milwaukee J-S ^ | 17 may 2013 | John Diedrich and Raquel Rutledge

[rellimpank]

ATF agents let a man armed with a gun and threatening to shoot someone walk out of their storefront sting operation in Milwaukee last summer, failing to arrest him or take the weapon, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

The suspect, Bobby Ball - a felon with a violent history - promised to return to the store and sell the agents that gun and others but he never came back, according to sources familiar with the case. Instead he spent four months on the loose, until he was picked up in Minnesota on a drunken-driving arrest.

He is now awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to selling drugs to the undercover agents.

It's unclear if the gun was later used in any crime or if it has been recovered. Ball has not been charged in any shootings in Wisconsin following the encounter with the ATF.

The "gun-walking" incident is the latest failure to be revealed in the flawed "Operation Fearless" sting, run out of a fake storefront in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood. The sting, aimed at catching criminals selling guns and drugs, was run by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives with help from Milwaukee police.

[shadeaud]

What a group of fools the ATF is They let this guy go and possibly kill a bunch of people on the promise that he may bring in more guns? that's like having sex with a chick who has blisters on her honey pot as she tells you Ott to worry, its only acne

[jiggyboy]

[mohresearcher]

ATF needs a major house cleaning of worthless layabouts and their superiors.

[rellimpank]

—ping—

[afraidfortherepublic]

Gun Walking fumble in Milwaukee ping

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