Fort Mill’s Peach Stand killer admitted to homicidal thoughts. Why he still got a gun
Seven months before Christopher Mendez bought a gun and shot 19-year-old Karson Whitesell, he told doctors he had thoughts about killing himself and others.
Under U.S. federal law, it’s illegal to sell a gun to someone who has been committed to a mental institution by a judge. Mendez was never actually committed to a mental institution, so he could legally purchase a gun.
Kevin Brackett, 16th Judicial Circuit solicitor, said Mendez voluntarily went to a Lancaster County emergency room, where he admitted having suicidal and homicidal thoughts.
Mendez was evaluated at the Lancaster County hospital and transported to Colleton Medical Center. Over a week later, after medication and treatment, he was not committed by a probate judge, Brackett said.
Public defender Phil Smith said Mendez didn’t have insurance and didn’t like the medicine’s side effects. He stopped taking it at some point after his release.
Dave Zoellner, managing attorney at SC Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, said there’s a difference between involuntary admission to a hospital and involuntary commitment.
Even though Mendez told doctors he had thoughts about killing himself and others, and was held at a hospital for more than a week, involuntary or emergency admission to a hospital does not prevent someone from purchasing a gun in South Carolina.
Mendez purchased a .45-caliber gun in a transaction that lasted less than 30 minutes, Brackett said. About an hour later on Jan. 23, he shot Whitesell five times at the Peach Stand store where she was working in Fort Mill. Mendez did not know or have a connection to Whitesell in what police called a “random” attack.
“There’s a crack in there, and this guy slid through the crack,” Brackett said.
During a gun purchase at a federally licensed store, buyers must fill out an ATF gun transaction form. Question 11f. asks: “Have you ever been adjudicated as mental defective, or have you ever been committed to a mental institution?” Mendez checked the answer “no.”
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, should tell gun sellers if a buyer has been committed to a mental institution, but there are exceptions.
If someone voluntarily commits themselves or is held at a mental institution, medicated and released before commitment — like Mendez — they aren’t prohibited from buying a gun, according to Special Agent Gerod King of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Charlotte field office.
Even if someone is committed to a mental institution by a judge, there are no federal laws that require agencies to add the information to NICS, although South Carolina enacted a law in 2013 requiring mental health reporting to NICS.
“Everything is based upon the fact of, not only people putting information into it timely, but people putting information into it at all,” King said. “You may have a situation where something could get totally overlooked.”
King said sellers will get one of three messages from the NICS database — to proceed with the sale, delay the sale or deny. If the sale is delayed, the seller must hold the purchase for three days.
For example, if someone tried to buy a gun on Monday and was met with a “delay” message, the seller would hold the gun for three full days and the buyer could return on Friday. At that point, the seller should have an updated message to proceed or deny. If the sale is still delayed after three full days, King said the seller has no legal obligation to continue to delay the sale, even without clearance from NICS.
In 2015, Dylann Roof was able to buy a gun after that three-day waiting period expired with no background check completed. He used that gun to kill nine African-Americans on June 17, 2015, at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Mendez bought the .45-caliber pistol Jan. 22 at the Fort Mill Cabela’s.
“Cabela’s fully complies with all local, state and federal regulations, including the ATF,” Cabela’s owner, Bass Pro Shops, said in a statement.
Josh Horowitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said some states, like California, have laws temporarily banning gun purchases for anyone admitted to mental hospitals who pose a danger to others.
According to California state code, anyone admitted to a facility and determined to be a danger to self or others is prohibited from purchasing or receiving a weapon during their treatment. And anyone who makes a “serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim or victims,” to a licensed psychotherapist is prohibited from owning or purchasing a firearm for five years.
“Where there’s been a finding that someone is a danger to themselves or others, in an involuntary hospitalization, we believe lives will be saved if someone is temporarily prohibited from having a firearm,” Horowitz said.
Mendez recently was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In court, Brackett said Mendez’ purchase of a gun should concern both sides of the gun rights issue.
“I am concerned about this,” Brackett said. “Obviously nobody on either side of the gun rights issue is interested in having people who are mentally ill being able to purchase firearms. This is apparently a defect in our system, because he was able to check ‘no’ and walk out of Cabala’s that day with a .45.”
