DIXON, Illinois -- WGN tv, a Tribune Media partner of WQAD, is reporting that suspected Dixon shooter Matthew Milby's mother is a convicted felon who should not have legally been able to purchase a gun,
WGN Investigates reported the news in a story published Friday night.
The Illinois State Police has confirmed Julie Milby purchased the 9-mm semi-automatic rifle her son brought to school Wednesday. But court records in Florida show her criminal history should have been a red flag on a background check.
On Wednesday Julie Milby told reporters, “There’s no justification for what he’s done. And he will take full responsibility for that.”
She also claimed she didn’t know how he got the gun.
“We don’t have guns,” she said at the time. “I don’t have any guns in the house.”
Yet state police say it was her gun and she purchased it in 2012.
How she got it is still unclear.
A review of court records shows Julie Milby, previously known as Julie Mitchell, was convicted of felony battery and felony resisting an officer with violence in Osceola County, Florida in 1991.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says because of that conviction she would not have been able to get a gun from a licensed dealer in the state of Florida.
Julie Milby did not answer her door Friday when WGN Investigates arrived.
Her attorney Tom Murray told WGN he believes she bought the gun in Illinois, legally, and with a FOID card. But he did not know about her 1991 felony convictions.
Illinois State Police won’t specify how she got the gun, or whether they ran a proper background check,because the case is still under investigation.
But in Illinois a felony conviction anywhere in the country disqualifies someone from getting a FOID card, which you need to buy a gun in Illinois.
When running a background check on Julie Milby, numerous felony convictions are shown. Someone in Florida stole her identity at one point. That individual claimed to be Julie when arrested. However, Florida officials say that happened after her 1991 felony convictions. Florida officials say all of those cases still should have shown up on a background check for a gun, though, because they have not been officially removed from her record.
Milby also has an extensive arrest record in Lee County, Illinois. None of those cases, however, include felony convictions.
