Fleet Farm Gun Lawsuit: $1M Payout, Training Rules, and Fallout

Fleet Farm agreed in February 2026 to pay $1 million and overhaul its firearms sales practices to settle a Minnesota Attorney General lawsuit accusing the retailer of repeatedly selling guns to straw purchasers despite obvious warning signs. The Fleet Farm gun lawsuit settlement, filed as a consent judgment on February 24, 2026, ended a case that began in October 2022 and centered on at least 37 firearms sold to two buyers whose purchases were later linked to gun trafficking, a mass shooting, and the deaths of children. Fleet Farm did not admit any violation of law.¹²

What Fleet Farm Must Pay and Change

The consent judgment imposes a $1 million penalty and requires Fleet Farm to rebuild how it sells firearms in its Minnesota stores. One year after the judgment takes effect, the company must submit a sworn declaration to the Attorney General detailing how it has carried out the required changes.¹

The reforms include:

Point-of-sale tracking software that displays a buyer’s full purchase history at the register, including makes and models of prior guns, ATF multiple-sale report alerts, straw purchase alerts, and “Be-On-the-Lookout” flags. The system must also flag buyers on Fleet Farm’s trace request list, which tracks ATF trace requests with a time-to-crime of three years or less.
Mandatory interactive training led by firearms compliance staff for new firearm sales employees, plus continuing training for all Minnesota employees involved in gun sales.
Heightened screening whenever a buyer displays a warning sign such as suspicious phone use, cash exchanges with a third party, or evasive answers. Employees must conduct additional questioning and get approval from a firearms compliance employee before finishing the sale.
Regular, unannounced compliance audits at Minnesota stores to test whether employees identify and respond to straw purchasing indicators.
Classification of any failure to follow the straw purchasing policy as a “critical error” subject to standard discipline.
“Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” or equivalent ATF-approved signage in all Minnesota locations.

Fleet Farm must also provide the Attorney General with a sworn implementation declaration after one year.¹³

The Sales at the Heart of the Case

The lawsuit focused on two straw purchasers, Jerome Horton and Sarah Elwood, who together bought at least 37 firearms from Fleet Farm stores between 2020 and 2021, including locations in Brooklyn Park and Blaine. Horton alone bought 24 handguns from four different Fleet Farm stores in roughly four months in 2021. Both were later convicted of federal straw purchasing offenses, meaning they bought guns for people legally barred from owning them.⁴

The state alleged those transactions matched ATF-published warning signs so closely that Fleet Farm’s own compliance staff later used Horton’s buying pattern as a “pretty obvious” training example of suspicious activity. Federal guidance treats indicators like rapid repeat handgun purchases, large cash payments, shopping with a companion, and frequent visits by new buyers as red flags.⁴

One internal exchange drew particular attention. On July 31, 2021, Cory Klebs, a manager at the Blaine store, reported to a firearms compliance employee that Horton appeared to be a straw purchaser. According to the court record, Klebs “apparently never heard back.” Horton kept buying guns from Fleet Farm after that report.⁵

A separate straw purchasing ring involved William Burton, who bought at least 43 firearms by making false statements to dealers, including at least nine from Fleet Farm in Blaine and Brooklyn Park. Burton pleaded guilty to conspiracy to make false statements in the purchase of firearms and was sentenced in February 2026 to 33 months in prison.⁶

The Shootings Tied to Fleet Farm Guns

On October 10, 2021, a Mossberg 9mm pistol Horton had bought at the Blaine Fleet Farm was used in a mass shooting at the Seventh Street Truck Park bar in downtown St. Paul. Marquisha “Kiki” Wiley, 27, was killed and 14 others were wounded. The gun reached Devondre Phillips, a convicted felon who could not legally possess firearms. Phillips was later convicted of eight counts of attempted murder and sentenced to nearly 37 years in prison.⁵⁷

Another firearm Burton bought was confirmed as the weapon used in the May 2021 fatal shooting of six-year-old Aniya Allen. A second was used in the murder of nine-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith. Aniya Allen’s shooting remains unsolved. And a gun sold by Fleet Farm to one of the straw purchasers was found by a six-year-old boy in front of his home in Minneapolis after suspects allegedly discarded it while fleeing a separate shooting.⁶⁸

How the Case Reached a Settlement

Attorney General Keith Ellison filed the case in Hennepin County District Court in October 2022. Fleet Farm removed it to the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, where it was assigned to Judge John Tunheim. The original complaint alleged negligence, negligent entrustment, aiding and abetting, and public nuisance. In June 2023, the court let the case move forward after finding the state had plausibly alleged Fleet Farm “knew or should have known” it was selling to straw purchasers.⁸

In March 2024, Ellison amended the complaint to add a claim under the Minnesota Gun Control Act, which bars licensed dealers from transferring a weapon when they know or have reason to know the buyer has made a false statement. Fleet Farm argued the Attorney General’s civil enforcement authority under Minnesota Statutes section 8.31 did not reach a statute with its own criminal penalties. Judge Tunheim disagreed, relying on the Minnesota Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Findling v. Group Health Plan to hold that section 8.31 covers any unlawful practice in business, commerce, or trade. The new claim exposed Fleet Farm to civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, plus attorney fees and disgorgement of profits.⁹

In October 2025, Judge Tunheim denied Fleet Farm’s motion for summary judgment and cleared the case for a jury trial. The court upheld Minnesota’s standing to sue under the parens patriae doctrine and rejected Fleet Farm’s argument that the criminal acts of the straw purchasers and shooters broke the chain of causation. A jury, the judge wrote, could reasonably find that selling to buyers displaying “textbook indicators of straw purchasing” foreseeably leads to trafficking and violence. The court did dismiss the aiding-and-abetting claim, ruling that suspicion of straw purchasing does not meet the actual knowledge standard, and dismissed the negligent entrustment theory as unrecognized by Minnesota courts in the retail firearms context. Negligence, negligence per se, public nuisance, and the Minnesota Gun Control Act claim were left for trial.¹⁰

The parties filed the consent judgment on February 24, 2026, before the case reached a jury.²

What Each Side Said

Ellison framed the outcome as a warning to other retailers. “I took Fleet Farm to court after the company put the lives of Minnesotans in danger by ignoring clear warning signs and selling guns to straw buyers,” he said. “This outcome should serve as a clear warning to any other gun dealers or retailers who would put their profit ahead of Minnesotans’ safety.”²

Fleet Farm said it was “pleased to have reached a resolution” and added: “We condemn gun violence and remain committed to partnering with law enforcement and community leaders to help keep our communities safe.” Throughout the litigation, the company argued there was “no evidence” it knew customers were straw purchasing at the time of the sales and that it complied with all applicable gun laws.³

A Separate Case Is Still Pending

The Attorney General’s action was not the only case against Fleet Farm arising from these sales. The family of Marquisha Wiley and other Truck Park bar shooting survivors filed a private civil lawsuit against Fleet Farm and the bar. In September 2025, Judge Tunheim denied Fleet Farm’s motion to dismiss that case, finding the plaintiffs had alleged specific knowledge by Fleet Farm of a “very specific bad actor” in Horton. That lawsuit remained pending when the state’s case settled.³

1
Minnesota Attorney General. Fleet Farm Consent Judgment
2
MPR News. Fleet Farm, Minnesota Reach Settlement in Gun Sales Lawsuit
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FOX 9. Fleet Farm Gun Lawsuit Settles for $1 Million, Significant Policy Changes
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Minnesota Attorney General. Attorney General Ellison’s Lawsuit Against Fleet Farm Proceeds to Trial
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Star Tribune. AG: Fleet Farm Manager Raised Questions About Straw Purchaser of Gun Used in St. Paul Mass Shooting
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CBS News Minnesota. Straw Purchaser Sentenced in Connection to Aniya Allen, Trinity Ottoson-Smith Cases
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CBS News Minnesota. Trial Begins for Two Charged in 2021 Mass Shooting in St. Paul
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Minnesota Attorney General. Court Rules Fleet Farm Lawsuit May Proceed
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Minnesota Attorney General. Court Allows Attorney General Ellison to Expand Fleet Farm Lawsuit
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Minnesota Lawyer. Minnesota Fleet Farm Gun Sales Trial