A 19-year-old Michigan man who lost his right eye after being shot with a firearm made from a ghost gun kit filed a lawsuit Tuesday against his former best friend who accidentally shot him and the Pennsylvania company that sold his friend the kit.
The lawsuit, filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, alleges that JSD Supply sold two ghost gun kits to Guy Boyd’s then-17-year-old boyfriend in April 2021 without verifying the boyfriend’s age or whether he could legally own a gun .
Boyd, who was also 17, was shot in the face less than two months later. He also suffers from “ongoing chronic and debilitating seizures that nearly killed him and will continue to affect virtually every aspect of his daily life,” the lawsuit said.
“This case is about the known and obvious dangers of arming a teenager with a gun, a company that cavalierly ignored those dangers, and a young man whose life was destroyed as a result,” Boyd’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit .
It was not immediately clear what, if any, criminal charges had been filed against Boyd’s former boyfriend, who was a minor at the time of the shooting, said David Santacroce, one of Boyd’s attorneys.
The Associated Press left a message with the district attorney about the shooting on Tuesday.
The lawsuit accuses JSD Supply and Boyd’s former boyfriend of negligence. The Associated Press could not reach the former friend, now 19, for comment and is not identifying him by name. JSD Supply in Prospect, Pennsylvania, did not immediately respond to a voicemail and an email seeking comment.
The lawsuit alleges that JSD Supply “proudly, publicly, and yet falsely advertised that the guns assembled from the kits did not require a license, could be repossessed completely off the books, and required absolutely no paperwork .”
New Jersey’s attorney general in December sued JSD Supply and another company for trying to sell ghost guns that are illegal in that state.
Ghost guns are privately made firearms without serial numbers. In general, guns manufactured by licensed companies must have serial numbers (usually displayed on the gun’s frame) that allow authorities to trace them back to the manufacturer, the firearms dealer, and the original purchaser.
However, ghost guns are made from parts that are assembled into weapons at home. The crucial part in building an untraceable weapon is what is known as the lower receiver. Some are sold in do-it-yourself kits and the receivers are usually made of metal or polymer.
On April 9, 2021, the teen named in the Michigan lawsuit allegedly purchased ghost gun building and completion kits online for $464.97 and had them shipped to his home in Ypsilanti, about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.
His mother found the first mounted gun and took it because he was a minor, the lawsuit said.
Eighteen days later, he purchased two more of the companion kits for $474.97 and had them shipped to his home as well.
Boyd and the teen had been best friends for more than a decade and were drinking alcohol or smoking marijuana with two other friends in late May 2021 when the gun was pointed at Boyd and the trigger was pulled.
“The last thing Plaintiff Boyd remembers from that night is (his friend) saying, after he shot him, ‘I love you, man,’” the lawsuit states.
Doctors were unable to remove all the bullet fragments, and some remain in Boyd’s brain, the lawsuit said.
“Mr. Boyd brings this action to seek relief for his injuries and to prevent such a preventable tragedy from ever happening again,” the lawsuit states, which says the damages amount exceeds $25,000.
A jury would decide the amount of damages if the lawsuit is successful, Santacroce said.
__________
Williams reported from West Bloomfield, Michigan.