A Midlands Tech student who researched mass shootings and collected 90 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition has been arrested.
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, including wire fraud, mail fraud and illegal possession of machine guns. He is being held without bond at the Barnwell County jail.
“This office, in conjunction with its law enforcement partners, employs a proactive approach to aggressively prosecute those individuals who break federal laws,” U.S. Attorney Peter M. McCoy, Jr said.
According to court documents, Kimpton used false names to fraudulently obtained high-value firearms, ammunition, and firearm accessories and had them shipped to federal firearms license-holders in Richland, Lexington, York, Saluda and Kershaw counties, as well as in the Charlotte area.
He was arrested Friday.
During the execution of federal search warrants on April 28, Kimpton was found to have approximately 90 firearms, including semi-automatic and tactical firearms, more than 23,000 rounds of ammunition, five bump stocks which enable rifles to fire like automatic weapons, firearm scopes, tactical helmets, tactical gear, gas masks, and gas mask filters, and body armor.
The case is being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the United States Secret Service. They are being assisted by the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, the Columbia Police Department, the Cayce Police Department, and the Batesburg-Leesville Police Department.