Feds: Midlands Tech student who researched mass killings arrested with 90 firearms

A Midlands Tech student who federal prosecutors say used the internet to research deadly mass shootings in Charleston and elsewhere and illegally acquired 90 weapons including numerous assault rifles and 23,763 bullets has been arrested, according to allegations in a federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Columbia.

Edward Daniel Kimpton Jr. , 25, appeared in a Columbia federal courtroom Tuesday via remote video conferencing and was formally notified by Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett of the charges against him — wire fraud, mail fraud and illegal possession of machine guns. He is being held without bond at the Barnwell County jail.

Some 90 weapons, the 23,763 bullets and other gear including gas masks and body armor worth an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars are now in the possession of federal authorities, according to court records.

Kimpton’s arrest Friday came after an 18-month investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Secret Service into an alleged “sophisticated fraud scheme in which he has fraudulently obtained a high quantity of high value firearms, ammunition, firearm accessories and tactical equipment,” according to a complaint in the case.

Midlands Tech officials on Tuesday confirmed Kimpton is a currently enrolled student at the technical college.

A posting on Kimpton’s Linked In page said, “I’m a student attending Midlands Technical college, planning to transfer to USC Columbia soon toward a Bachelor degree in Computer Science. I’m an avid collector in comics, action figures, video games and anime. I’m hoping to crack into the virtual reality of computer software one day.”

During the investigation, authorities learned that Kimpton “appears to have visited web pages” with content regarding South Carolina mass shooters in Charleston in 2015 and Florence in 2018, the complaint said. He also searched the internet to learn about the guns used in the Santa Fe, Texas, high school shooting in 2018 in which eight students and two teachers were killed and 13 were wounded, according to a complaint in the case.

Kimpton also made online searches “on numerous occasions” for instructions on how to use bump stocks to convert regular single shot assault rifles into fully automatic firearms, the complaint said. He also searched online for information on “gas mask shootings,” the complaint said.

Kimpton’s alleged gun-buying scheme worked this way: Using online gun marketplace sites such as ArmsList.com, Kimpton first purchased firearms, bullets, firearm scopes, tactical gear and related goods from individual and retail sellers all over the country, often using fictitious names, according to the complaint.

Kimpton paid for the items using electronic payment platforms like PayPal and had them shipped by mail to federal firearms license-holders in the South Carolina counties of Richland, Lexington, York, Saluda and Kershaw, as well as in the Charlotte area, the complaint said.

After picking up the guns and other gear, Kimpton would contest the sale, alleging that he never received the items.

“The sellers are then left without their property or payment, and Kimpton retains both the property and the fraudulently reverted funds,” the complaint said.

Kimpton’s victims were located in Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Tennessee and Washington, in addition to South Carolina, the complaint said.

Last week, the ATF, Secret Service and South Carolina state and local law agencies, armed with search warrants, swooped down on Kimpton’s house, a storage unit and another undisclosed site and seized the 90 weapons, more than 23,000 bullets and other gear.

The other gear included body armor, tactical helmets, tactical clothing, firearm scopes, gas masks, gas mask filters, numerous loaded magazines and five bump stocks, the complaint said.

Bump stocks are aftermarket devices used to change regular assault rifles into automatic weapons, allowing one tug on the trigger of a semiautomatic, single-shot weapon “to initiate a continuous firing cycle with the single pull of a trigger,” the complaint said.

Bump stocks are controversial. They were found on 13 of the rifles recovered at the scene of the Las Vegas shooter who in October 2017 killed 58 people at a concert and left more than 400 with gun wounds, according to a Las Vegas police report of the incident. The bumpstocks enabled the shooter, who committed suicide before police could take him into custody, to fire more than 1,000 bullets at a crowd below his hotel room, according to news accounts.

Columbia attorney Jonathan Harvey, who represents Kimpton, told Magistrate Judge Gossett that he was reserving the right to seek bond for his client.

“There will be several motions that may be forthcoming,” Harvey said, including issues that focus on Kimpton’s conduct and behavior. Harvey did not elaborate.

Kimpton, appearing on the video screen in a red jail jump suit, spoke little except to say, “Yes, your honor,” as Gossett went through a list of his rights.

Gossett agreed to order Kimpton held without bond after a motion by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elliott Daniels.

Peter McCoy, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina, said, “Now, as much as ever, our office and our law enforcement partners are proactively investigating and prosecuting violations of federal law to keep our communities safe. The complaint in this case speaks to those efforts.”

Editor’s note: An early version of this story incorrectly referred to the 90 weapons as all assault rifles. The weapons included numerous assault rifles as well as other kinds of firearms used in military or police operations, according to sources familiar with the case.

This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 4:13 PM.