'Gap In the System' Allowed Purchase Of Gun Used In Marysville School Shooting

The arrest of a Tulalip man has put a spotlight on possible gaps in the background check system for gun buyers.

The protection order that would have blocked Raymond Fryberg, Jr., from buying a handgun was never entered in a state database. His son later used the gun in the shootings at Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

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It’s not yet clear exactly why the Tulalip Tribal Court’s protection order against Raymond Fryberg was not entered into a state database. But tribes around the country have been pressing for better access to court and criminal databases in the last several years.

A woman obtained the order against Fryberg in Tulalip Tribal Court in 2002, saying Fryberg had recently threatened her and had physically assaulted her in the past. Typically the tribe submits those orders to the Snohomish County Clerk’s office to include in state court records.

Snohomish County clerk Sonya Kraski says everyone is looking at the system to figure out what happened to that protection order and whether similar gaps could occur in the future.

Kraski: “This already has and is going to continue to cause a lot of conversations and a review of current statutes and agreements with the tribes to ensure that there are no gaps in the system.”

Kraski’s office also forwards the protection order to the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office. If that had occurred in this case, it would have been grounds to deny Fryberg a concealed pistol license in 2013 and block his purchase of handguns at the Cabela’s sporting goods store in Tulalip.

Last October Frybeg’s son Jaylen used one of the guns to shoot five students and himself at the high school; one student survived.

This week Raymond Fryberg was arrested on federal charges of illegal firearm possession. The sheriff’s office says it has revoked his concealed pistol license in light of that protection order.