LAS VEGAS, NEV. — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Nevada), published as received.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Douglas Haig, 57, of Mesa, Arizona, was sentenced today to 13 months in federal prison for manufacturing ammunition without a license, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse of the FBI’s Las Vegas Division.
This case arose out of the investigation into the October 1, 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas. In the hotel room from which the shooter staged his attack, investigators located a box with a shipping label setting forth Haig’s name and address.
According to court documents, from July 2016 to October 2017, Haig illegally manufactured various types of ammunition. Haig had operated “Specialized Military Ammunition,” an Internet business selling armor piercing (AP) ammunition, armor piercing incendiary (API), and high explosive armor piercing incendiary (HEAPI) ammunition. Business records showed that Haig sold such ammunition throughout the United States, including Nevada, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming, and South Carolina.
Beginning on October 2, 2017, agents from the FBI and ATF began a series of interviews with Haig, who admitted to meeting the October 1 shooter and selling him ammunition. Haig also admitted to traveling to gun shows to sell ammunition. Even though Haig’s website promoted his ability to “fabricate” and “manufacture” military style “mil spec” ammunition, including AP ammunition, API, and HEAPI ammunition, Haig told a witness to lie to the FBI and ATF agents about whether he sold the ammunition that he manufactured. Because Haig did not possess a federal firearms license, he was not authorized to manufacture ammunition.
On October 24, 2017, agents seized hundreds of pounds of ammunition and ammunition components when they executed a search warrant at Haig’s residence. Haig had ammunition or firearms-related equipment in nearly every room, and a workshop had been converted into a manufacturing operation for ammunition that he was in the process of automating.
A fingerprint examination established that Haig’s fingerprints were on two pieces of armor piercing ammunition removed from a magazine located in the October 1 shooter’s hotel room. A forensic firearms examination also revealed that armor piercing ammunition recovered inside of the shooter’s rooms had tool marks consistent with Haig’s reloading equipment.
Haig was indicted by a grand jury on August 22, 2018, and pleaded guilty to the illegally manufacturing ammunition charge on November 19, 2019. U.S. District Judge James Mahan ordered Haig to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by October 2, 2020.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI with assistance from ATF and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Lopez and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Burns prosecuted the case.
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