Des Moines Police are concerned after the city’s first case linking 3D-printed guns to a crime

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) -The Des Moines Police found two 3D-printed guns and they are now investigating the possibility that a distributor could be making untraceable weapons in Des Moines for criminal reasons, KCCI’s Pepper Purpura reported.

Police found the guns at a Wednesday morning shooting located at Easton Boulevard. During the shooting, a 16-year-old was arrested after they shot a man. Thankfully, the man who was shot is expected to make a full recovery. However, the teenager is facing willful injury and attempted murder charges.

Now, what is concerning the police about the incident is the weapon the teenager used, a 3D-printed gun. This is the first time the Des Moines Police Department has connected a 3D-printed gun to a crime in Iowa’s Capital City. 3D guns are hard to trace because they don’t have any serial numbers for sellers to track.

According to the Des Moines Police, the teenager did not make the gun. However, the weapon was crafted locally. Now the police are working to discover who made the guns and gave them to the teenager.

“We’ve got this circumstance now where people are manufacturing these guns to avoid background checks or manufacturing these guns with the intention of landing them in the hands of people who want to go out and commit a crime,” Des Moines police Sgt. Paul Parizek explained. “The problem that we encounter is that when we lean into our partners with the (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) for some support, they say, ‘can you tell us where this gun came from, where was it sold, who bought it,’ but the gun is virtually invisible because it doesn’t have a serial number.”

People with information regarding the case are asked to contact the police.

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